Unwanted Attractions
by schizoidmastermind
Summary: Modernized version of P&P. Elizabeth's life was perfectly alright before Charles entered Jane's life bringing Darcy with him.
1. Bad Day

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

**Oh, please be civil with your reviews, you're not barbarians-hopefully-so try to be good 'civilized' people. Thank you.**

Old habits die hard, right, well that would be true for the man lying in bed at six in the morning mentally preparing himself for the tiring day of plane traveling. He seriously didn't want to jump onto that plane and take off for some no-name country town for business and to help his friend decide to make a purchase on a house.

How hard was it to make a purchase on a house? If you like it and it's well within your income, you buy it. At least that was Fitzwilliam Darcy's opinion on the matter, but what did he know of purchasing land when he inherited his home?

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," grunted Darcy, he really didn't want to get out of bed.

The door opened and entered an elderly, grandfather like man with a balding head and gray-white hair. "Mr. Darcy, I just called the airport for you sir and your flight is on schedule. Do you require any assistance this morning sir?"

"Just with my pants, Reynolds, as you well know," groaned Darcy, pushing himself into a sitting position using his arms. "Okay, so maybe I do need your help."

With a small smile, Mr. Reynolds positioned a chair by the bed and then grasped his employer under the armpits. "On three. One, two, three," Mr. Reynolds counted down and on 'three' he hefted Darcy out of bed and onto the chair.

"Thank you," Darcy muttered, getting himself situated. "Am I all packed to leave?"

"Indeed you are sir; everything is downstairs being loaded into the car as we speak. My wife does request that you eat something before you leave though and take with you something to eat on the plane," Mr. Reynolds stated as he opened the closet and selected some comfortable jeans for his boss to wear. "How are these, sir?"

"Those will do," nodded Darcy as he wheeled his way to the window. _It's been ten years and you still need assistance some days. That is pathetic Fitz, what would your father say?_ With a sigh, Darcy closed his eyes before they could glance at the photograph sitting on his desk.

_No more of this,_ he decided, _you must focus on the work ahead of you and the advice you can give to Charles, even if it turns out that he does not require any at all._

* * *

It was an everyday occurrence, well, almost everyday occurrence when she had class. She had just gotten back from her morning classes and now she had to go straight to work, problem was she was going to be late all due to the fact that she couldn't find her shoe.

"Dad, have you seen my shoe?" Elizabeth Bennet cried as she dashed about the multipurpose room that was often used as a computer, music, video game, and book room. The room was the last place that she could recall taking off her shoes.

"Dad, help me out here," she implored as she checked under the computer desk, behind the television, and under the desk that had the printer.

The man who had been sitting on the couch reading 'Wizard and Glass', part of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' series, kicked at something that had been lying beside his foot.

Looking down at the object Elizabeth gave her father a grateful look as she picked up her shoe. Sitting down beside her father, Lizzie slipped on her shoe and leaned to give her father a kiss on the cheek.

"Whatever would I do without you?" she asked, getting up.

"Go to work shoeless or wearing mismatched shoes," her father replied with a teasing smile.

"It could have been a new fashion statement," Lizzie returned as she dashed down the hallway, through the living room, and out the door. "Bye mom, see you later," she called out as she passed by an older woman with blond-gray hair.

"Elizabeth!" the woman cried out after the young woman, but Lizzie ignored her as she got on her bike and pedaled down the street as fast as she could.

"I can still make it," she told herself as she sped down the street and went right through a stop sign.

As Lizzie pedaled down the street and up the next, then down the next she saw a car pulled next to the curb half a block ahead of her. No one got into the car but rather it seemed to be waiting for someone; someone pricy from the looks of the black car with tinted windows all around.

"Wow," Lizzie breathed as she passed the car, gawking at it a bit too long to notice the woman coming out of the store carrying a couple bags of dry cleaned clothes.

When Elizabeth did take her eyes off of the vehicle she barely had time to jerk her bike to the side, barely missing the woman that she nearly ran into. It took a lot of control and the tires squealed a bit before it completely tipped over, slamming Elizabeth into the ground.

"Ow," she groaned, putting a hand to her aching head that she was certain was going to have a bruise. Getting up, Elizabeth picked up her bike and got back on without turning around to see the other person. "Sorry about that!" Liz cried out before pedaling off to work.

"Insolent girl," scoffed the woman, gathering up her dry cleaning, but Lizzie hadn't heard it for she was half a block away from the woman.

_Well this is just great, _Elizabeth thought foully. _Just run her over Liz, yeah that is real smart, next time don't gawk at the car _no_ matter how out of place it may look._ This reproof, Lizzie knew, would only last for the time it took her to get to the doors of her work, which would be in a matter of minutes as she flew down a hill.

Hills were always great to ride down on a bike because gravity did all the work and Elizabeth just had to sit there maintaining her balance. It was easy enough and there was no hard work to it. How great was that?

In front of her work, Elizabeth dismounted her bike and carried it up the stairs; she didn't want to bother taking the long way around just to roll her bike up the handicap ramp. Now, came the hard part, holding the only working door open as she moved the bike inside…the one task that Elizabeth truly loathed to do since it could be nearly impossible on some days, and judging by how things were going that day, it just might be one of those days.

Or at least it would have been if the door hadn't been opened by Elizabeth's coworker and best friend, Charlotte Lucas, the daughter of the store owner. Lizzie would have thanked Charlotte for her assistance if her friend hadn't reminded her that she was going to be late in a matter of seconds.

"You better hurry up before your marked late, you know how my dad feels about that," Charlotte winked at Lizzie as she pushed the back into the store.

"Thanks for the warning," Liz muttered a bit sarcastically, which surprised her a bit; Lizzie didn't think herself capable of sarcasm after that near accident and after biking there as fast as she could, but as with most things in life, she was proven wrong.

Smiling a bit at her friend's obvious foul mood, Charlotte took hold of the bike, once it and Elizabeth were through the door, and gestured to the back room door. "Go punch in and I'll watch your ride," she assured.

Elizabeth would have kissed her friend if she knew that she would be late if she had. So, handing the bike of to her best friend, Lizzie dashed into the back room, grabbed her time card, and quickly punched it.

"I made it," she sighed in relief, resting her head against the punch machine. Slowly a grin crept across her features. "Yeah, that's right!" she cheered. "I made it! I'm on time! Take that you stupid clock! Yeah!"

Calming down from her pumped up, victorious rejoicing, Elizabeth slipped her time card into its slot and returned to the front to find her bike waiting for her at the counter and her friend holding back a grin.

"That's right, I'm on time!" Lizzie told her, doing a little victory dance before grabbing her bike and taking it into the back, leaving a laughing Charlotte behind.

* * *

Darcy wheeled his way through the airport to the carousals where his luggage would soon be moving around on, but that was not what he was in search of. No, Darcy was scanning the crowds for his friend Charles Bingley, an old friend of his that he had met in college while studying for his business and English degree.

Charles was supposed to pick Darcy up from the airport and take him to this new house that Bingley was interested in buying. It amazed Darcy that Charles relied so much upon his opinion, sometimes too much.

"Darcy, there you are!" came Charles' unmistakable voice from behind Darcy.

Spinning around in his wheelchair, Darcy got his first sight of his old friend. He had not seen Charles for six months since Charles had gone to Africa to lend his support and help to orphanages and AIDS facilities, much to Caroline's dismay, as Darcy heard.

"Charles, it's good to see you again," Darcy returned with a grin of his own, holding out his hand for his friend to shake.

Bingley took Darcy's hand and gave it a hearty shake, "Same to you old man, same to you. Come now, how was your flight?" That was the one question that Darcy had been hoping to avoid, but, alas, it had to be asked. "That bad, eh?" Was it that obvious?

"Yes, let's just say that I am not very eager to get back on another plane in a long while," Darcy replied.

"Well, how does ten days sound to you? That is how long this business you have here will take right?" Charles asked in confirmation as he picked up a brown leather bag with Darcy's trademark nametag on it.

"No, the business portion should take me no more than a couple of days and then I shall be free to do with my time as I please," Darcy corrected, taking the bag and placing it on his lap then pointing at another bag that belonged to him.

Picking up the other bag, Charles turned to his friend with a wide grin. "Good, then we'll have some time to catch up and go around meeting some of the locals," he pointed out, causing Darcy to groan. "Oh come now man, it can't be all that horrible! It is a small enough town and very accessible for anyone to move around in, plus the people are extremely nice."

"You mean the ones you have spoken to so far," grumbled Darcy as he followed Charles out to the car that awaited them.

"Well yes, but I figure that almost everyone there are perfectly polite and good natured."

Rolling his eyes a bit, Darcy refrained from commenting how the manners of a few do not reflect the manners of the many. Instead he just simply inquired, "How far is this town? Shall we be traveling half way across the state?"

Charles laughed as he put Darcy's bags into the trunk, then came around the side and opened the door. "No, but we have a good thirty miles to drive through before we get to the house. So, relax."

Lifting himself into the backseat of the car, Darcy saw that the person in the front passenger seat was none other than Charles' younger sister, Caroline Bingley. Mentally, Darcy cringed a bit but visibly he just offered her a nod of acknowledgement before turning to Charles and saying, "No chance of relaxation."

Bingley just laughed as he closed the door and folded up the wheelchair to store in the trunk.

_This is going to be longer than what I anticipated,_ Darcy thought. He leaned back into the seat as Caroline began her questioning of his work, sister, and house. _Longer, indeed._


	2. Hard Work

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

"Oh hey," Charles exclaimed, interrupting Caroline's line of questioning, much to Darcy's relief. "There's this comic book store nearby that I wanted to check out, see if they have any of the issues that I'm missing…"

"Charles, how can you think about comic books? I'm sure that Darcy does not wish spend his time in a comic store when he could be settling in to his room," Caroline argued.

Not for the first time, Darcy had to wonder how the two were related. They certainly didn't act alike; Charles was very open, sometimes even a bit childish but he was not as innocent as some people may think him to be, no, Darcy could name a few occasions when Charles let go of his inner child. Whereas Caroline was very proper sometimes even prissy, she lived for high standards and loved to live the life of a movie star despite the fact that she wasn't one and that she was living basically off of her brother's money.

Still, Darcy knew that Charles had four other siblings, three of them sisters and one was a half-brother. Out of those other four Darcy had only met one, Charles' older sister Louisa Hurst who matched Caroline's personality almost identically except that Louisa couldn't quite seem to think for herself.

"It's quite alright Charles," Darcy assured after hearing his friend start to give into his sister's protests, "we can stop by the store as long as you don't make it a fifteen minute trip into an hour long trip."

"You got it," nodded Charles, obviously pleased that Darcy had no objections to stopping by the store.

Charles Bingley had the unique talent of turning anything that is meant to take only a few minutes into an hour long venture, especially when it came to comic books. Darcy still did not quite understand how his friend was such a huge fan of those books or why he bought-'collected,' as Charles would say-them. Even though Darcy was no fan of those miniature books, which he thought of as illustrated movies with only dialogue and limited actions, he never told Charles that he should stop with his 'collecting'.

Leaning forward to glance out the window, Darcy watched as the small coffee shops, bike shops, and other miscellaneous stores passed by. _I can't believe I'm doing this,_ he groaned.

* * *

"So," Elizabeth began as she typed in the inventory for the new shipment they had just gotten in, "what's the verdict?"

Charlotte simply dropped a slip of paper over the computer screen so that Liz could read it. "Now hiring?!" she cried out in disgust.

"Read on," urged Charlotte while going over the huge catalogue that they were to order from for the next month shipments.

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth already could tell that she wasn't going to like what she was going to read. "Must be eighteen years of age? Well, I suppose if he wants someone to come in between eleven and three, but still, I was only sixteen when your dad hired me."

"Read on," Charlotte repeated, marking a couple of orders.

With sigh, Elizabeth continued, "Must have two years of retailing experience and a fair knowledge of comics. Oh please, your dad hired me based on my knowledge alone, this is so unfair!"

"Actually, he hired you because I advised him to, but your knowledge did give you an edge. For a while there dad was thinking of hiring-what's-his-face's name?-Denny until he realized that the guy knew next to nothing about comics," corrected Charlotte, flattening Elizabeth's already flattened ego. Now the said ego was road kill.

Glaring at her friend from over the computer screen Elizabeth muttered, "You really know how to bring down a person's self-esteem." In response, her friend just shot Lizzie a knowing smile before sticking her tongue out playfully. "So why isn't your dad asking Maria or Robby to take up a part-time job here, it's not as though they could object to the money."

"Well, dad doesn't want to put too much pressure on Maria since it is her senior year and all, and Robby is about two hundred miles away, remember?" reasoned Charlotte, her brows knitting together in indecision. "What about this one for Darkhorse, 'The Hire'?"

"You got through DC and Marvel that fast, I'm impressed," Liz commented knowing full well that her friend just skipped over those two companies for the small ones. Stopping her keying Elizabeth listened as her friend read the description.

Clearing her throat, Charlotte began, "'The enigmatic hero capable of doing the hard thing for the right reasons,' that's just the pitch line, now here's the first issue description; 'when the Hire is asked to sneak a rich man's spoiled, scandalous daughter out of town, he thinks the worst he'll have to deal with are persistent paparazzi. Then the bullets start to fly…'" Looking up from the catalogue, Charlotte looked to her friend for the 'yes' or 'no'. "Well?"

"Sounds like something _I_ would read," Lizzie replied, returning to her typing. _Well, that's about 20 punched in and only 27 more to go._ Even though it may have seemed like a small shipment there were forty-four comic titles with between five to ten extra issues and then four trade paperback comics. So, it was a fair shipment, but not as huge as some others.

"So, I should order the comic then," assumed Charlotte marking the comic. "Do you think it will sell good?"

Her keying coming to a stop again, Liz sat to think a bit. "I don't know, but just order five copies, if we need more then we can always order more," she advised.

"Okay, here's another one that's right up your alley, 'Fierce'," Charlotte announced, ready to read the synopsis, but the beeper on the door went off as a nice looking woman entered the store.

"Hey there guys," she greeted with a smile, "working hard as usual I see." She pointed to the two large cups of coffee on the counter then at the half-full packet of donuts.

"That's all her," Lizzie assured, nodding her head towards Charlotte, who looked offended. "I didn't touch one of those things since I had my ramen."

The woman gave Elizabeth a questioning look, which the latter wished she wouldn't, and the woman eyed a half-eaten donut that sat by the keyboard. Liz knew she was busted.

"Really Lizzie, it looks as though you indulged yourself too," teased the woman.

A guilty smile crossed Lizzie's features faintly before fading away. "Aren't you supposed to be watching some three year old brats right now, Jane," she returned, playfully. Even though she meant it as playful, Liz hoped that Jane didn't take her seriously.

"I'm on break," Jane told her. "And I just thought I would stop by to say 'hi' to my baby sister and possibly offer to run out to get some _real_ food for her and her friend, but I see that I'm not wanted. So I'll…"

"NO!" Charlotte and Lizzie cried out at the same time, dropping their jobs to stand up.

Jane turned to them with her trademark grin, "Then what do you two want to eat?"

"I'll have a chicken chief salad and a can of Sprite," Charlotte ordered, causing the sisters to raise an eyebrow. It had to be a family gene for their dad had that same talent and their younger sister, Mary, could do that same trick, if provoked. "What?"

"I don't think Jane's going to be going out to McDonald's, Char," Lizzie explained. The nearest McDonald's was in the next town, which was a good sixteen miles away and Jane's lunch break was only a half-hour.

"Oh come on Liz, you've lived here your whole life. Ted's place has those salads, at least that's where I get them," Charlotte countered, blushing a bit.

Liz looked at her sister and Jane just shook her head, but Liz couldn't help it, this _called_ for teasing! "And just how often do you visit Teddy?" she jibed, holding back a laugh as Charlotte's blush increased. "Oh…I think…"

"What would you like Lizzie," Jane interrupted, much to Charlotte's gratitude.

"I'll have whatever soup he has on the menu for today," Lizzie answered with a pout. Jane didn't need to ruin her fun, it wouldn't have last long.

"Okay, I'll be back shortly," Jane told them as she made her way to leave.

"Jane, wait!" Elizabeth called out as she hopped around the table and over the counter in front of her sister, holding her arms out. "Can't I give my big sister a hug 'hello'?" Jane instantly embraced her younger sister and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Sure thing," she mumbled into Lizzie's ear as she pulled away. "But get back to work." Immediately Liz groaned, she wanted to get out of work so bad, even just for a little while without it being marked on her time card.

Hearing the door close, Elizabeth turned to her friend looking for comfort that wasn't there, only a clip board was held out to her.

"What's this?" Liz inquired, taking the clipboard.

"Those are the comics that we're supposed to put off to the side, since you're already out from behind the counter you can do those right away," Charlotte grinned, causing Liz to groan again. "Oh stop your groaning, it's never a difficult task, especially when I already shelved the new comics."

"Yes, Ms. Lucas," grunted Liz, heading to the back wall where the newest, popular comics are shelved. "Let's see here, Mr. Green wanted the She-Hulk issue and …"

* * *

Charles pulled the car up along the side walk in front of the possibly the largest store in that town with a billboard on top reading 'Lucas Comics and Collectibles'. To say the least, Darcy was not impressed by the establishment; in fact he almost detested the place already.

_Who, in a small town, needs a big comic book store?_ he wondered.

"I'll be right back," Charles told them. "Will, you can stay in the car with Caroline."

Suddenly Darcy felt a wave of pure horror course through him; it wasn't necessarily the idea of being in the same car as Caroline that bothered him but rather that he was going to be _alone_ with her. He did not want to give the woman any opportunity to sudden pounce upon him, or flirt with him.

"Um Charles, perhaps I should go with you," Darcy suggested, keeping the pleading tone out of his voice. He didn't want to sound desperate.

"Are you sure?" Charles asked with a puzzled expression.

Caroline looked back at Darcy with slow, 'sly', 'attractive' smile and conspiratorial wink. That was it! That truly made up Darcy's mind.

"Yes," he said hurriedly and was it just him or did he voice go up an octave?

"Oh, then I'll go with you," Caroline decided, much to Darcy's discomfort.

With a shrug, Charles got out of the car and opened the trunk, pulling out Darcy's wheelchair. Opening the door, Charles unfolded the chair and propped it alongside the car, offering his shoulder for Darcy to support himself on.

In one semi-smooth motion, Darcy plopped himself into his wheel chair and allowed Charles to back him up a bit so that the door could close. Wheeling around a bit, Darcy fast got adjusted to being back in his chair on wheels and was making his way to the handicap ramp. At least the store had the decency to have a ramp!

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, nearing the top of the ramp to where Charles held the door open for him.

**Thank you to Micheala90 and The Brilliant Fool for your support.**


	3. First Impressions

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

Luh! It was as horrible as he imagined. The store itself wasn't horrible, it was clean for the most part but there was already a box in his way as Darcy wheeled himself about, so that marked it down in his esteem.

"Are you going to be okay on your own for a moment?" Charles inquired, obviously eager to go comic hunting but at the same time worried about leaving his friend in an uncomfortable situation.

"I'll be fine as long as you don't take too long," Darcy nodded, knowing that the sooner he let Charles run off to find his comics the sooner they could get out of the store. Comics were the one thing that Darcy could never stand even as a young boy. No, his boyhood reading materials consisted solely upon classic literature and the newspaper, never this miniature books that cost three dollars an issue.

Wheeling himself about, Darcy browsed through the comics on a nearby shelf; it was a ploy he used when he was uncomfortable and wished to not attract unwanted attention. While flipping through a comic Darcy watched as Charles spoke with an average looking girl behind that counter, who in turn just pointed at two rows of boxes that had 'BACK ISSUES' written in black marker across the front.

_Why did I come in here?_ Darcy asked himself.

"Can you believe that people actually do this sort of thing as a living?" came Caroline's voice from behind Darcy. She would stick by his side like glue until they left, much to Darcy's irritation.

_Ah yes, that was why,_ he nodded to himself, placing the comic back on the shelf.

Liz was crouched on the other side of the shelves when the group had entered the store, the only person she saw was this really nice looking guy talking to Charlotte until she pointed at the back issue boxes, then he quickly made his way to them with the same giddy smile that Liz often wore on her face when she got hold of new comics.

Unfortunately, at the moment she was stuck just pulling out certain comics to put aside for some of their customers from surrounding towns. It was amazing how much work a store like a comic shop could get when it was the only one within a good 150 miles.

The beeper went off again and Lizzie heard her sister's voice announcing the arrival of food.

"Hey Jane," Lizzie heard Charlotte say, "could you go help that guy out, I think he might be getting lost with the back the issues."

"Sure thing," agreed Jane, as Elizabeth knew she would. Her sister had never learned to say 'no' and she was always happy to help anyone out in any way that was appropriate.

Liz watched her older sister make her way to the said guy and start talking to him. It was a bit funny to Lizzie because immediately the guy started to stumble over his words and sometimes even switch words in comic titles, like '100 Bullets' was now 'Bullets 100'.

Recalling herself to the task before her, Elizabeth turned back to the comics and pulled out the first issue of 'Thunder Cats vs. Battle of the Planets'. That was about the time when she heard someone on the other side comment, "This is ridiculous. I can't believe anyone could call himself a writer for just writing dialogue, is that even considered writing?"

Normally, Liz would have tuned out the person insulting comics, especially comic writers, but it was a bit hard since there was no music being played and there was a total of four, now five, people that she knew were in the store.

"No doubt," agreed a more deeper voice, obviously belonging to a male.

A bit offended, Lizzie began to stand up a bit.

_That better be those stupid pre-teens again,_ she growled. For the last month a group of pre-teens had been periodically coming into the store to make jibes and insults about comics even though not one of them had ever picked up a comic. So, if it was those kids again then it wasn't a problem.

Elizabeth didn't have to stand up all the way to see that there was a tall woman standing on the other side staring at some comics in disgust, but there was no one else standing beside her.

Slowly crouching down again, Liz set aside the comics she had picked and crawled to end of the shelves.

"Mew…" meowed Charlotte's cat, Hertford, as it brushed up against someone's leg, begging for attention.

"They even let a cat roam free, how nice for the people allergic to them," the woman commented as she looked down at the cat in disgust.

_Thank you for stating the obvious,_ Lizzie retorted as she glanced around the shelf to see the woman standing behind a guy in a wheelchair, who Hertford was busy rubbing against.

Not saying anything, the guy picked up Hertford and let the cat sniff at his hand before letting the guy pet his fur. The guy obviously didn't want to be in the store.

_So why are they here if they're just going to insult other people?_ Lizzie questioned.

"Trust me Darcy, you will find most people here to be very rude. Like only this morning, I almost got run over by a person on a bike. The girl didn't even bother to apologize to me," the woman related to the guy, who in turn just nodded, his attention completely upon the cat.

Liz groaned a bit, she hadn't meant to run anyone over. _Besides,_ she pointed out, _I _did_ say 'sorry', thank you very nice!_

"Can you believe that girl behind the counter?" the woman inquired in a low voice making it sound like it was something scandalous. "Is it some sort of requirement to have to wear baggy shirts with childish cartoon characters printed on them? Seriously, it is as though every comic freak must wear a shirt to state that they are comic freaks, what do you think Darcy?"

Glancing down at her 'Justice' shirt, Elizabeth frowned. Jane had made the shirt for her as a Christmas present; it was based off of their own comic book character. There was nothing childish about it, it wasn't drawn like some sort of cartoon character like Bugs Bunny or Popeye, who Liz felt was one of the greatest classic characters.

Looking up from his stroking, Darcy looked at Charlotte. He had to admit it, Caroline had a point, even Charles would wear shirts featuring comic book characters like Batman or X-Men, or even Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"Well, Darcy?" urged Caroline, biting her lip, she hoped that she hadn't offended him in some way.

Picking up the cat, Darcy put it back on the floor. "The shirts are childish and could have been drawn by a five year old. Most of these 'artists' are rather talentless, much like the writers."

That was it. Liz stood up from her hiding spot and approached the two.

"May I help you two?" she inquired nicely. _Don't let them know that you heard them speaking. Don't let them know that you…_

"No, we're just waiting for my brother to be done," Caroline answered, giving Elizabeth a quick up-down look to assess her.

"Oh, my bad then, I thought you two were looking through the Marvel comics," Liz shrugged, plucking the last issue of '1602' off the shelf. "If you haven't read them you really should because Neil Gaiman did an excellent job with the writing. He wrote the 'Sandman' comics as well and the book _Coraline._ He's quite the _accomplished_ writer."

Darcy bit the inside of his mouth, he could just feel the heat that radiated off the girl's words. He knew that she had heard them talking and apparently had taken offense of their comments, but Darcy was not sorry for what he had said.

"Thanks but no," Caroline refused with a sour look on her face that she tried to cover up with a tight smile.

The girl just shrugged and went over to the other side of the shelves where she bent down and came back up with an armful of comics. That confirmed Darcy of his suspicions. She had heard what he and Caroline had said.

_Oh well, it is not as though she knows who I am or that I shall ever see her again after this moment,_ he assured himself as Charles approached them carrying five different bagged comics.

"Find what you were looking for Charles?" Caroline questioned, eyeing the comics.

"Yes, thanks to Jane's help. I take it you two are ready to leave," Charles smiled knowingly. "I'll go pay these then we can leave."

"Then go do so," Darcy encouraged, he did not wish to spend anymore time in that store, especially since he could hear the two girls-the one behind the counter and the one that was offended-laughing about something.

Charles went over the counter and set the comics down.

Lizzie was standing beside the guy when he set down the comics for Charlotte to scan. Reading through the titles Liz saw two 'X-Men' issues, one 'Superman', and two '100 Bullet' issues. She had read all of the issues and even owned four out of the five, she was missing the 'Superman' issue.

"Wow, filling in the holes of your collections?" she commented absently.

"Yeah," Charles nodded, "it's rather amazing that I even found these issues. Most comic stores I go to are usually sold out or have the prices jacked up to twenty dollars an issue, this is the first store I've seen with all of these comics and at decent prices."

"Ah well, then you have Liz to thank for that," Charlotte stated as she calculated the comics. "That would be $18.25."

Charles paid Charlotte a twenty and she quickly got out his change, the girl was almost like a human calculator.

"Lizzie," Jane interrupted from behind her sister. "Here's your food." Jane handed Liz the Styrofoam cup of soup and a spoon then simply stated, "I can't stay long because I have to get back to the brats, as you call them."

Lizzie pouted, she liked having her sister around, it made work even more fun during the long hours before the store actually got a bit busy.

"Okay then, I'll see you later," Lizzie smiled, giving her big sister a hug.

"Hey, huh, if you want a ride I can…give you one," Charles offered, generously.

Jane smiled but she knew better, and she pointed that out to him. "I wouldn't want to be a burden to a complete stranger."

It amazed Liz sometimes how sweet and polite her sister could be even when rejecting a guy of any sort of offer. It was a talent that she wished to possess, it would make life easier and possibly a bit more painless.

"Sorry, Charles Bingley," the guy said holding out his hand to her. Without any resistance, Jane shook his hand with the same gentle smile she gave everyone else, but Elizabeth sensed something was different about it.

"Jane Bennet and this is my sister Elizabeth, then this is our friend Charlotte Lucas," Jane introduced indicating to her two companions.

"Well, since I can't give you a ride to your work, then I hope to see you around," Charles grinned, earning a bit of a blush from Jane, much to Lizzie's surprise. Her sister _never_ blushed under any guy's complement.

"Perhaps you will," she returned, grabbing her bag of food and took off for the door.

After Jane had left, Liz felt the urge to tell Charles that her sister was available but she figured that Jane wouldn't appreciate it if Elizabeth began to try and play matchmaker. It happened once in high school and that hadn't ended too well.

"Well, it was nice to meet you two and I'll probably be stopping by more often," Charles told Charlotte and Liz as he glanced over at his companions.

"We hope so," Charlotte replied before Charles took his bag of comics and approached his friends.

Charlotte and Lizzie watched as the three left, Charles holding the door open for the guy in the wheelchair. When the door closed Charlotte turned to Liz with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you sure it was that guy in the wheelchair? He looked like someone who would know when to keep his thoughts and opinions to himself, unlike the girl," Charlotte commented.

"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving," Liz pointed out, placing the stack of comics on the counter. "Here are all the comics, now you sort them and I'll finish up with inventory."

**Thank you to: Nerweniel, non-damsel, Anna, ogoiog, TriGemini, and Micheala90. Thank you all for your reviews. I'm glad I sparked some interest.**


	4. Tomorrow's Plans

**Unwanted Attractions**

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

**Marching season is finally over with and I'm now back to updating my fics as much as possible. Thank you for your patience.**

It wasn't until well after ten that Elizabeth came home, mentally exhausted after having read seven of the twelve chapters for her British English course. To make matters worse, the normal rush hour came into the store after six and stayed until past closing time.

Despite all of this, Lizzie, being the good daughter she was, still remembered to buy her dad a box, some bags, and boards to store his comics in. The man collected comics like crazy and he relied upon his daughter to provide him the materials to preserve his illustrated books.

Entering the multipurpose room, Lizzie set the box, the bags and boards inside, down at her father's foot.

"Got you your box, boards, and bags," she sighed, flopping down on the couch beside her dad. "I hope they keep you busy for a while."

"Thank you Lizzie and you have a present too," Mr. Bennet commented as he reached over the arm of the couch.

Intrigued, Elizabeth raised a questioning eyebrow as she waited for her father to pull out whatever the present was. As he straightened, Mr. Bennet pulled up a box with the label 'Westfield Comics' on the side.

"Our comics came in today," grinned Mr. Bennet, handing Lizzie a huge bagful of comics and two graphic novels. "I might borrow your trade paper backs when I get done with my comics."

"That's quite alright dad," Lizzie assured as she scanned over the titles of each comic, trying to recall when she ordered them and which ones were back issues that she had been waiting six months for.

"Lizzie," Mr. Bennet spoke up after a few moments of sitting quietly while watching 'Clean Sweep'.

"Mmh?" was his daughter's only response as she opened one of her graphic novels.

Still watching the television, Mr. Bennet inquired, "Your mother has been pestering me into meeting a young man by the name of Charles Bingley, you don't happen to know anything about this do you?"

It took Elizabeth a couple of minutes to recollect the events of the day before she realized that she knew the name. "Yeah, he stopped in to buy some back issues of a couple comics. He seemed to like Jane, offered her a ride back to the daycare center."

"Ah…well then, that solves my dilemma, I can just tell your mother that you girls have already met the man and that there is no reason for me to meet him at all," decided Mr. Bennet, taking a sip of his soda.

Elizabeth knew that her parents _were_ in a strange, unexplainable love despite the fact that they were polar opposites of each other. Whereas Mrs. Bennet was outgoing and talkative; Mr. Bennet was distant and quiet, always standing aloof as he observed those around him. It was something Lizzie admired about him, his keen eye for detail.

"Well, I'm off to bed; mom wants to go see Aunt Phillips tomorrow. I'm thinking of perhaps hinting to Lydia and Kitty that Lucas is hiring again, maybe one of them will actually fill out an application this time," Lizzie commented, standing up and stretching out her arms.

Mr. Bennet snorted, "Knowing your cousins Lizzie, I would highly doubt that they will even consider picking up an application while using your uncle's wedding as an excuse."

Lizzie groaned, she did not want to be reminded that in the coming weeks she would be stuck in a bridesmaid skirt and tight shirt, which pinched her skin. It wasn't that she wasn't happy that her Uncle Edward was getting married, it was just that she didn't want to be standing up in a skirt and high heels.

"Night dad," Lizzie said as she left the room.

Upon entering her room on the second floor, Elizabeth saw another box on her bed that had an 'AMP Comics' label on it. She grinned and shook her head.

_My 'Shades of Blue' finally came in after all this time,_ she sighed, setting her comics on her dresser and changing into a larger t-shirt with baggy pants.

Once Lizzie was fully clothed for bed there was a knock on her door. Turning around, Elizabeth saw Jane in the doorway hiding something behind her back.

"I see you got your comics," Jane commented, nodding towards the stack of comics on the dresser then to the box on the bed. "Anything good to read?"

"Definitely," grinned Lizzie, noticing the unusual shifting of weight in her sister's stance. "What are you hiding behind your back, Jane? Is it some sort of love letter? Or perhaps a publisher letter?"

Jane laughed, "If only Lizzie. No, it is not a love letter, only the covers of our comic and the first three pages."

The reaction was instant, Lizzie's jaw dropped in amazement as her eyes went wide awe. How was that possible? How could her sister have gotten all that done within three days?

"Of course," Jane added, ignoring her sister's reaction, "I haven't added the color or done any of the inking. So far it's all just pencil work but I wanted you to have a look at them to see if they're okay."

Pulling out a large pad of paper from behind her back, Jane handed it to Elizabeth, who eagerly took it, and waited nervously as the younger Bennet sister looked over the art. Both covers were beautifully done to give an idea of what the comic was about but not giving away the story line. Then the three comic pages were excellent, each frame capturing every thought Elizabeth had in her mind while writing the pages.

"Wow Jane, you really outdid yourself with these," Lizzie complimented in awe. "Could you possibly make this frame a bit larger to show emphasis and then make this one here a bit smaller?"

Looking at the mentioned frames Jane examined them then nodded. "No problem. So, when is the first issue going to be done?"

Slapping her forehead, Elizabeth winced a bit, she hit her head harder than she meant to. "I'm hoping that before Christmas I'll have it done for you, but I'll try to have the next page done for you by tomorrow if you can wait that long," promised Lizzie. "In the meantime, have you shown these to Mary yet? She would probably like to see them."

Jane shook her head, her expression falling a bit. "She claimed to be too busy. I'm a bit worried about her Lizzie, I know that she usually is reading books but to be studying as hard as she is right and for such a lengthy period of time, it cannot be healthy," Jane replied.

Elizabeth nodded knowing that Mary was quite the bookworm but she never locked herself in her room just to study before. Now Mary wouldn't leave her room for food, causing Jane to worry for her.

"Well," Lizzie spoke up, "why don't we take her to the book store while mom visits Aunt Phillips. We can take Kitty and Lydia with us as well, then that way we can say that we did _something_ with our cousins."

"Lizzie, it's not that bad to spend some time with Kitty and Lydia," Jane insisted.

"Sure, when they're not chasing after military men," Lizzie remarked sarcastically as she thought of how her two cousins shamelessly flirted with a stranger who had a uniform on, usually it was a Navy or Air Force uniform. "Enough about Kitty and Lydia, what do you think of Charles?"

"He was a very nice man, very polite to me when I was helping him with the comics. I like him," Jane answered, not quite certain at what Liz was trying to get at.

Smiling, Elizabeth nodded her agreement. "That's for sure, it's more than what can be said about his friends though."

"Why?" Jane inquired. "What happened?"

* * *

If there was one thing Darcy could credit to this country town it was the house Charles was leased. It was a large two story farm house with a field of corn in the back and pumpkins off to the side, then in a small patch grew strawberries, tomatoes, and carrots.

Granted, Darcy didn't think much of the country life but this he found to be quite satisfying. It was quiet with a good mile and a half distance from the neighbors, the closest being the Lucas family then the Bennet family. So, Darcy had his peace and quiet, at least when Caroline was not hanging about him.

"So, what do you think Darcy?" Charles asked as he stood in the doorway to the library. "I know it's nothing to Pemberley but…"

Holding up a hand, Darcy silenced his friend. "Charles, I believe it was you who put it as such, 'no place can compare to Pemberley'. With that statement I would have to say that this place cannot compare to my home but it is comfortable for me to stay in for a while," Darcy assured.

"That's good to know," Charles smiled, sitting down on a chair. "What do you think of the town?"

Darcy's eye twitched in his efforts to keep from wincing. "It is exactly as I always thought it would be; quaint," he stated, not wanting to damper his friend's high hopes for no reason. Besides, where Charles lived was none of Darcy's business, right?

"What of the people?" Charles questioned, eagerly.

Now Darcy was interested, Charles knew what Darcy's opinion of people in general was; so, why was he asking?

"I have yet to speak with anyone of the town, although you have apparently," Darcy noted with a raised eyebrow. "Who did you meet and become friends with now? A young teen, the cook, or the flight attendant?"

"Actually I met her at the comic store," Charles admitted, growing red in the ears, causing Will to frown. Charles had this horrible habit of falling in and out of love with the wrong kind women at the wrong times.

"She was really sweet and was quite a beauty," continued the love-struck fool while his friend shook his head. "It's the truth Darcy, you ought to meet her because she was such a cute girl with a wonderful smile."

With a sigh Darcy egged Charles on, "Besides her smile and looks did you get her name?"

"Yeah, it's Jane Bennet, and she has a sister that was kind of cute, and might I add, I think she might be available too."

Darcy threw a playful glare at Charles. "You know how I feel about being set up with a stranger, especially some sort of country bumpkin," the handicapped man reminded as he wheeled his way to the door.

"Right…can't blame me for trying to get you to socialize with someone beyond my sister," Charles shrugged as he rose to his feet. "Well then old man, how does searching for some books for my library tomorrow sound to you?"

Rolling down the hall to his room, Darcy turned around to face Charles. "Sounds like heaven to me in comparison to spending the day with your sister following me about."

"Cool beans!"

Watching Charles make his way to the staircase, Darcy shook his head. Who said 'cool beans' beyond sophomore year in high school?

_Only Charles would say something like that and make it sound natural._

**Thank you to: ogoiog, Tonya L. Looper, Sam, Your Worshipfulness, anonymous, Grace, anti-botox, EreshkigalGirl, lina, and TriGemini. I really appreciate your support.**


	5. Hello Again

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

"What about this one?" Jane inquired to Lydia, trying to persuade her younger cousin to get involved in the on going search for good books. It wasn't working. Lydia and Kitty Phillips weren't ones to be taken with books.

"Give it up, Jane," Lizzie commented as she read the back of a book. "Those two don't read literature unless it is in a magazine with a bunch of men in uniforms. Oh, that sounds good!"

Lydia adjusted her tube top as she threw her cousin a playful glare. "I resent that Elizabeth, I read books from school," she pointed out.

"So do I," Kitty echoed as she tried to peep over a shelf at a couple of men that were by the hardcover books.

"Kitty, let me see," Lydia sighed, easily peeking over the shelves because she was clearly the tallest out of the five girls. "Ugh, why are you checking those two out? Well, I suppose that one guy is pretty cute but he would be better if he was in uniform."

Elizabeth and Jane exchanged glances.

"See? Those magazines are dangerous when they make our own cousins lose IQ points by having to check out any and every guy that they see, uniform or not," Lizzie remarked, hiding her face behind a book.

"Lizzie!" Jane playfully scolded.

"For your information Lizzie, those magazines are quite educational, which is more than what I can say about those books and comics you have your nose buried in all the time," Lydia countered. "Is that other guy a midget or something? Why is he so short?"

Kitty shrugged looking at the man her sister was talking about. "Maybe he's one of those midget people," she suggested.

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth glanced over the bookcase at the two men her cousins were talking of. It didn't take much of a look to know who they were, and there was no way that Elizabeth was going to get caught checking them out.

"Oh sh…" cringed Lizzie, slowly sliding to the floor.

"What is it Lizzie?" Jane inquired, her voice was dripping with concern. "It's not Joe, is it? I would have thought you would be happy to see Joe after he's been gone for so long…"

Elizabeth shook her head to make her sister stop. "It's…'

"Jane, what a surprise to run into you again," came the cheery voice of Charles Bingley.

"Him," Liz muttered, finishing her earlier sentence.

"Ch-Charles," Jane smiled, quickly collecting herself into the calm and ever charming persona. "My, this is a surprise indeed. Do you need help in searching for something because I can't help you, I don't work here."

Charles smiled, "No, I just wanted to come over here and say 'hello'."

"Oh," Jane blushed but Lizzie knew her sister too well, there had been a small sigh of relief from Jane.

_Did she really think that he just thought of her as someone who helped others find stuff? Honestly,_ Lizzie thought, shaking her head only to notice that the guy in the wheelchair from the other day was behind Charles. _Why is he here?!_

"Uh? Charles, who is that?" Jane inquired, gesturing to the man in the wheelchair and Elizabeth almost blessed her sister aloud.

"Oh!" Charles exclaimed as though he was reminded of something he had forgotten. "Jane this is my friend William Darcy. Darcy this is _Jane_ Bennet and her _sister_, Elizabeth."

Inwardly, Darcy groaned. He knew that Charles had emphasized the girl's name and the word 'sister' so that Darcy would recognize that these were the girls from the comic store the day before.

"Lizzie. Call me Lizzie please."

Darcy was grateful that Charles hadn't introduced him as 'Fitzwilliam', it was such an out of date name that it sounded so queer to hear it much less to say it.

"Nice to meet you William," Jane greeted, holding out her hand to shake Darcy's.

_She is rather pretty, _Darcy observed, eyeing Jane a bit. _Nothing at all like her sister._

He shook her hand but Darcy didn't offer anything to say to either of the girls. Although he eyed Lizzie a bit then adverted his eyes and proceeded to pretend that she did not exist.

"Ugh-um!" coughed Lydia from behind, causing Jane and Lizzie to turn to their cousin in surprise. Whoops, they had forgotten all about their cousins and little sister.

Lizzie decided to spare Jane the introductions. "These are our cousins Kitty and Lydia Phillips, and in the back there is our younger sister Mary," she informed Charles and Darcy, pointing to a petite girl, head bent over a book in the Religious section.

"Pleasure," Charles assured but turned his attention immediately back to Jane. "Jane, I was wondering if you and Elizabeth would like to have some coffee with Darcy and I this morning, before he has to head off to a business meeting."

Biting the inside of her mouth, Lizzie tried not to smile. It was so cute to see this man indirectly ask her sister out on a date, especially considering that Jane's late date wasn't since high school and the guy was a jerk.

Shifting her eyes from Charles to his friend, Liz found a look of pure disdain on Darcy's features and it just hit Lizzie the wrong way. _What is it? Aren't us comic book fans good enough to have coffee with him and his friend? _Lizzie thought bitterly as she checked her watch.

"Actually, as much as I would love to do coffee with you guys, I can't. I've got to go to work soon and…" Elizabeth began to explain but Charles silenced her with a reassuring smile.

"If you need a ride I can give you one and on the way we can quickly order our coffees," he suggested and Liz gave him grateful smile while Lydia and Kitty giggled excessively in the background.

Ignoring her cousins Jane explained, "There is no coffee shop in town where you can just order coffee and go, unless it's the ground coffee in a bag that you want to take home and make."

"Really?" Charles asked, surprised. "No Starbucks or anything around here?"

"No," Jane answered.

Nodding his understanding, Lizzie still saw a tiny smile playing at Mr. Bingley's lips as they twitched a upwards a bit. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that had caught Lizzie's attention, Charles' friend Darcy did.

He was starring at her, not in the manner that simply said 'Go away,' just stared up at her and it unnerved Elizabeth a bit. What was it? Was there some sort of pen marking on her face or something? Was there a bit of breakfast still left on her teeth? What was it about her that attracted his stare?

Not being one to tolerate unwanted starring, Lizzie returned Darcy's stare with one of her own but adding a lifted eyebrow.

It shocked Darcy to say the most, he hadn't expected the girl, Elizabeth, to start starring at him. To be truthful, he hadn't noticed that he had been starring at Lizzie, he had just been trying to read the titles on the spine of the books behind her.

Adverting his eyes, Darcy pulled a random book off the shelf and began reading it while glancing up at his friend, waiting for Charles to close the conversation. That didn't seem like a possibility any time soon by Darcy's estimation as he observed Charles' behavior. The fool was infatuated with the girl, Jane.

Glimpsing from the book to Jane's sister, Darcy noticed that she was the same girl from the comic store the other day. Not that he cared much truly, it was just that he didn't wish hear how she deeply offended was at the comments he had related. That was the last thing he needed.

"I've got to get going, Jane," Lizzie interjected for a moment. "I'll see you later, tell mom and dad that I'll be a bit late tonight, I've got to close up again."

"Hey, do I get a discount on the comics?" Charles joked with a wink.

With a teasing smile, Lizzie replied, "No, I reserve that right for myself and my dad. It's was good to see you again Charles and nice meeting you Darcy." She might not have particularly liked the guy but that didn't mean Elizabeth was going to go against the manners she was raised upon.

Darcy had gave her the slightest of nods before Elizabeth left, leaving her sisters to deal with their cousins and the two men.

"Would you like to go out with me for some coffee after I drop Darcy off in the city?" Charles asked Jane with hopeful eyes.

"I can't, I have to work at the daycare center. Sorry, but I would love to sometime," assured Jane with a bit of a blush. Lydia and Kitty giggled a bit behind their cousin's back.

"Okay." Bingley was in no way disappointed with her answer, in fact he was devising a plan to get Jane to go out for coffee with him. Turning around, Charles found his friend pretending to read a book. "Ready to get going, Darcy?"

Putting the book back into its rightful place, Darcy nodded.

"It was nice meeting you Darcy," Jane said, holding out her hand to shake his.

Grasping the girl's hand for a second time, Darcy gave it a firm shake. "Same here," he stated, letting go of Jane's hand so he could wheel himself backwards.

"Nice meeting you girls," Charles waved to Lydia and Kitty. The girls gave him little waves before bursting out in a fit of giggles. "See you around Jane."

"See you."

Following Darcy out of the store, Charles kept turning back to see Jane and ended up tripping over random shelves and display stands. Darcy shook his head at his friend's clumsiness. What was so special about the girl?

"Oh…" Lydia spoke up, "Jane's got an admirer."

At this Jane blushed deeply and denied it, saying that Charles was just being nice.

"He wanted to go out for coffee with you," Kitty pointed out, causing her cousin to turn bright red in the ears.

"As friends," defended Jane, trying to regain her composure. "Are you girls done?"

Snorting at the pathetic attempt to change the subject, Lydia held up two teen magazines and a tabloid. "We're ready since we know that you want to get going so that you can see your Charles Bingley again, this time alone."

Ignoring her cousin's comment, Jane walked past them to her sister. "We're ready to leave whenever you are," she told her youngest sister.

Closing her book of Psalm, Mary nodded and adjusted her thick glasses. "I was just waiting for you," Mary informed her sister.

Nodding, Jane led the way to the cashier and paid for the books that she and Lizzie had wanted to purchase, as well as her cousin's and Mary's items. They would pay her later for the magazines, tabloids, and books.

_He is not interested in me,_ stated Jane as she left the book store and went to her car. _No, Charles couldn't be interested in someone like me._

**Thank you to: Your Worshipfulness, EreshkigalGirl, TriGemini, Akanksha, Michaela90, harmony, Aly Spy, Clavel, missmcweir, and Monte. I never would have thought people would actually read this fic.**


	6. Jane's Story

**Unwanted Attractions**

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

From the moment Lizzie had entered the store, Charlotte could see that something was wrong and there was going to be much ranting.

Coming out from the back room, Lizzie went over to the stereo system in one corner of the store and put on the CD 'The Phantom of the Opera', which made Charlotte even more aware of her friend's sour mood.

Within hearing the first chords of the overture, Lizzie approached the counter and proceeded to bang her head against it.

"He-hey!" Charlotte cried, reaching over to stop her friend. "You lose brain cells by doing that!"

"I could deal with the loss of some, maybe then whatever God or Goddess of good fortune would shine upon me," Lizzie groaned, resting her head on the counter inhaling deeply.

Resting against the counter, Charlotte suggested, "Care to talk about it? I mean confession is good for the body and soul and all, as Reverend Taylor would say."

Lizzie's head snapped up and she took a deep breath, making Charlotte realize just how long of a tale this was going to be.

"Okay, do you remember that one guy that came in looking through the back issues, Charles Bingley…?" Elizabeth was explaining before Charlotte interjected with a gasp of acknowledgement.

"That guy who bought the old Netherfield farm! Yes, I remember him, daddy plans on having him come over for the barn raising party Sunday. What about him?" For a few seconds Lizzie stared in astonishment at her friend, she had no idea that Charles Bingley was her family's new neighbor. Her shock was overcome easily as she shook out of it.

"At least you remember him, do you remember his friend?" Lizzie asked.

"Wheelchair right?" Charlotte asked and her friend nodded. "Yeah, he was the rude one who called us artists and writers 'talentless' and that Jane or my drawings could have been done by a five-year-old."

Pushing herself away from the counter, Elizabeth began to pace which translated that she was going to be rambling on for a while unless interrupted.

"Exactly!" Now that Charlotte and she were on the same page of information, Lizzie could tell her whole story. "My sisters and I are at the book store with Kitty and Lydia, 'cousin bonding' and all that. Well, you know how Kitty and Lydia hate books and love going 'men watching'." Charlotte nodded. "Well, they decided to unknowingly, check out Charles and his friend, whose name is Darcy by-the-by."

Charlotte looked perplexed for a moment. "I thought they only chased after military men."

"They do but it's slim pickings right now so they pass their free time by staring at men in general and saying how good he would look in uniform," reasoned Lizzie offhandedly. "So, they can't figure out why Darcy's short, no offense meant, so I check it out, see them, and panic a bit. Charles and his friend come on over by us and strikes up a conversation with Jane.

"Oh my God, he's such a sweetie and I think that Jane is taking a liking to this guy, I mean he _offers_ to take us out for coffee. Coffee! Name one guy around here that will do that to two girls he barely knows!"

"Joe."

Lizzie shot her friend a warning glare, stating, "Besides Joe, he's too gallant for his own good."

Shaking her head, Charlotte decided not to say that she disagreed; Joe was too much of a flirt and knew exactly what most girls wanted. However, since Joe and Lizzie were good friends, Charlotte made no negative comments about his character.

"Anyways, while Charles talks back and forth between Jane and I, his friend just stared at me in this disdainful way," Lizzie continued, her voice becoming bitter. "I mean, do I disgust somehow just by being in their presence?! Is it because I just happen to work at a comic store and be a comic fan that people find distasteful?"

Charlotte shook her head.

"Seriously, though Charlotte, what is it?" Lizzie demanded, finally stopping her ten-step pacing.

"I have no idea. Maybe his expectations and standards are too high. Or perhaps he is just so used to the more exquisite, expensive side of life that he thinks of us being a tad…awkward," she suggested with a shrug. "After all, dad told me that both Charles Bingley and Darcy are very wealthy men, Darcy more so, and that he owns a plantation in New Orleans; actually, it's his family's England house brought over to America from Derbyshire."

Elizabeth stared at her friend with a countenance of suspicious-disbelief. "Did your dad hire some sort of private investigator to dig up all of that information or something? Because, as much as I'd hate to say it, that some pretty detailed information that I don't think the common person should have on a new neighbor."

Flushing a bit, Charlotte began to busy herself with miscellaneous papers lying about behind the counter. "Yeah well, mom is trying to peak my interest in them while praying that I will start dating one of them," Charlotte replied, unconsciously turning a bright shade of red in the neck.

"Oh no," groaned Lizzie, banging her head once on the counter. "Mom's been making plans to do that for us as well. Dad told me how mom had wanted him to meet Charles and that can only lead to her trying to set Jane or I up."

It was easy to predict this for Mrs. Lucas and Elizabeth's mother were as much rivals as they were friends, especially when it came to getting their daughters dating and married. The Lucas' had two daughters, and only one of legalized age to marry without parental permission, whereas the Bennets' had three daughters and two of them were of age to marry.

"You have my deepest sympathies," Charlotte stated, well aware of how Mrs. Bennet could be at times.

* * *

It was11 pm when Lizzie came home exhausted, as it was Friday the store got busy by 5 o'clock with lots of comic fans coming in an browsing for hours on end before making a selection. Plus Lizzie had decided to read up on her Eras of Literature books, so now her eyes hurt from being strained with the small printing.

Upon entering the house, Lizzie was greeted with the sight of her mother standing there ready to pounce.

Raising an eyebrow, Lizzie slowly set down her backpack while staring at her mother bewilderedly. "Mom," she began, "what are you doing up?"

Mrs. Bennet pounced. "Lizzie, what do you know of this man that Jane is seeing?!"

"What do you mean? What guy?" inquired Liz, her eyes narrowed in concentration. She knew her sister like the back of her hand, Jane didn't have a boyfriend. _Unless she has been keeping secrets from me._

"The man who dropped off Jane after work. She was carrying a cup of coffee!" Mrs. Bennet informed her daughter in a scandalous tone.

Lizzie's head snapped up at the word 'coffee'. _Charles Bingley,_ she realized but she wasn't certain. "Mama, we'll talk tomorrow, I have to get to bed. Long night and all."

Not waiting for a response, Lizzie took off upstairs and went directly to Jane's room, which was right next to hers. Knocking quietly on the door, Lizzie waited for Jane to open it.

It didn't take long before Jane opened the door already dressed for bed and was surprised to find Elizabeth standing there.

"Lizzie, what're you…?" Jane began to ask but was cut off as Lizzie entered the room and sat on Jane's bed.

"Spill, did you go out with Charles Bingley today? Don't you dare deny it because mom just told me that 'some guy' had given you a ride home and you were carrying a cup of coffee, and I doubt that it was from Ted's. So confess," Lizzie bombarded her sister, leaving no room for Jane to get a word in.

"You're right," Jane blushed, looking down a bit. "I did go out for a cup of coffee in the city with Charles after work."

"I knew it!" cheered Elizabeth falling back on the bed. "So, tell me all about it for I shall not rest until I know the _whole_ story."

A dreamy expression crossed Jane's face as she laid on her bed with her head beside Lizzie's. "Where shall I begin?" Jane sighed with a joyous smile. "We were offered to go out to coffee and we both declined."

"You declined? Where was I?" Elizabeth spoke up, cocking her head toward her sister.

"You had left for work by that time," answered Jane. "Anyways, since he knew that I worked at the daycare and there is only one in town, it was easy for Charles to find it at Aunt Phillips' house." A faint tint of a blush spread over Jane's cheeks. "Charles came over at lunchtime and ate lunch with me and the kids."

A knowing smile crossed Elizabeth's lips as she listened to her sister with her eyes closed. "How were the kids at that time? They weren't being brats toward him, were they?"

"No, each of them were very well-behaved, but that could have been because Charles was their new playmate for a good hour or two. Even Cameron was behaved, now if only he would behave so everyday," Jane commented with a content tone.

Elizabeth could well imagine that her sister felt at home at the table for lunch with the kids and Charles. It was no secret that Jane wished to someday be a mother and be married to a man whom she loved.

"Aunt Phillips apparently let it slip what time I get out of work when Charles left after lunch. So, when I was done with work Charles was there to pick me up saying that I 'owed him a cup of coffee'," Jane related, turning her head to Lizzie. "I had told him at the book store that I would like to have coffee with him sometime."

"Oh…and he took that time today." Nodding in understanding, Lizzie urged her sister to continue with her narrative. "Where did you guys go? Town?"

Jane nodded. "We went to the city, stopped at a Starbucks and went to pick up Darcy from his meeting. Apparently he's the CEO of a major publishing company and he was sent to the city to interview a possible writer." Biting her lower lip a bit, Jane debated whether or not to tell her sister that she had told Darcy that Lizzie was an exceptional author.

"Then he just brought you home?" Lizzie asked, a bit disappointed.

"No," Jane corrected, "we stopped by the mall afterwards to pick up Charles' sister, Caroline. She was a very nice woman, although I think that she might not have had the best experience here. Caroline told me about this one girl who almost ran her over with a bike on her first day in town and never apologized for it."

"That's not true, I _did_ apologize and I missed her, falling off my bike to do so! Not to mention that I was almost late for work," defended Elizabeth, surprising her sister.

"It was you on the bike?" Jane inquired and Lizzie confirmed it. "Oh, I can always tell her that you did say sorry and were in a hurry for work."

Liz shook her head. It was so like her sister to offer an explanation for others, even if the explanation would change the opinion of people like Caroline Bingley's.

"Don't bother," sighed Lizzie. "I'll just deal with it, besides it wouldn't make a difference."

Jane began to protest but Lizzie got off the bed and made her way to the door. "It's late sis, and I once again have work while you have class."

Forgetting her protest, Jane glanced at her clock to read 11:50 pm. "Alright, night Lizzie."

"Night Jane." Closing the door behind her, Lizzie went into her room quietly-she didn't wish to attract her mother's attention-and began to do a minor victory/happy dance. _Jane's got a boyfriend!_

**Thank you to:** **Clavel, missmcweir, hey, TriGemini, EreshkigalGirl, Micheala90, Tonya Looper, and rubberdukki. You guys are awesome!**


	7. Set Down

**Unwanted Attractions**

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

"Darcy. Darcy, have you even heard a single word I said?" Charles inquired, taking notice that Darcy might actually be engrossed in the book that he was 'reading'.

"You were waxing poetically about that girl again," Darcy replied, turning a page in the book.

Charles raised an eyebrow, about ready to snatch the book away. "She has a name Darcy," he pointed out, waiting to see if his friend even knew exactly _who_ he was 'waxing poetically' about.

"That girl, Jane Bennet," Darcy answered absent-mindedly as he close his book and set it aside. "Which brings us to my question, what were you thinking when you decided to take her out for coffee?"

A bewildered expression crosses Charles' face then it began to take on a little bit of an insulted look. "What do you _mean_ 'what was _I_ thinking'? I just decided to drop by her work and take her out for coffee once she was off. It just so happened to coincide with the time that I was supposed to pick you up," Charles explained simply. "Why, don't you like her?"

Feeling that his answer was going to determine whether or not a gapping hole might form between him and his friend, Darcy took his time to answer, choosing his words wisely.

"I think that she is a very nice girl but she just seems to…smile too much," Darcy claimed and saw the quizzical look begin to appear on Charles' features. "I mean, what does a person have to be smiling about constantly?"

Quickly, Charles' confused expression dissolved into a fit of laughter where he began to slap his knee. "Darcy," he started while trying to catch his breath, "I don't know what century you're living in but the last I checked, we date first then we _may _get engaged _then_ married."

Joining in with Charles' laughter, Darcy realized how ridiculous his reasoning was. "Point made," smiled Darcy, rolling over to the window and gazing out at the fields that would need plowing before and after the winter season. "You know how uncomfortable I am about meeting new people, Charles, and having just recently met Jane I wouldn't have thought that you would so readily take her out."

"Come now Darcy, you know just as well as I do that I have the horrible habit of falling in and out of love with the first beautiful girl I meet," Charles chuckled, calming down a bit. "So, does that mean I shouldn't invite her over for dinner on Saturday?"

Turning around with a lifted eyebrow, Darcy soon shrugged, playing the role of indifference. "If you wish to take her out to dinner then do so. You'll receive no quarrel from me."

"Great!" Charles clapped his hands decisively. "Then it's settled and everyone wins. I get to have dinner with Jane, Caroline gets to have her even number at the dinner table, and you get the chance to get to know her better," announced Charles as he stared up at the ceiling blissfully, oblivious to Darcy's questioning expression.

"You're…you're inviting to dinner _here_?" interjected Darcy.

Returning his stare to his friend, Charles nodded. "Of course, I didn't think you _really_ wanted to be alone with Caroline as your only company," Charles was baiting Darcy, "but…if you really want to be alone with her…"

"Make her a fourth," Darcy quickly said, keeping from cringing at the mere thought of suffering through a dinner alone with Caroline Bingley. It wasn't so much that he hated her it was the fact that she relied heavily-even more than her brother-upon Darcy's opinions and felt the need to criticize anyone she felt was beneath her. _Like in the comic store,_ groaned Darcy, recalling how he behaved.

"Who is a fourth and for what?" Ms. Bingley's voice rang through the nearly naked room, the living room to be more precise.

Standing in the doorway in her bathrobe and her hair twisted in a towel above her head. Apparently she was passing by the room after her shower and heard Darcy's last sentence.

"Jane Bennet, the girl you met in the car today," Charles replied enthusiastically, unaware how Caroline's lips twitched into a frown. "I plan to ask her to come over for dinner Saturday. I figure you won't mind since you seemed to get along with her in the car and I know how much you hate having an odd number of people at the table."

"That's a great idea, I do so enjoy Jane's company and it will be nice to speak with someone _sane_ in this country town."

"Caroline!" Charles scolded.

"I know how you feel about this place Charles but if you had witnessed what I have about these people you wouldn't like this place either." Mr. Bingley just shook his head. "First there was that girl on the bike I told you about then there was that presumptuous girl from the comic store."

"Which girl? Surely, you don't mean Jane, she was with me for the most part, helping me find comics," Charles interjected.

Darcy took the opportunity to put his two-bits in. "It was Jane's sister, Elizabeth."

"Oh…so she has a name," commented Caroline casting Darcy a suspicious glance. "How did you come by her name, Darcy?"

Bingley was more than happy to jump in with the explanation. "We ran into Jane, her sisters, and cousins at the book store this morning. So, Darcy got introduced to Elizabeth today. Oh," Charles turned to Darcy, "wasn't Elizabeth quite pretty?"

_Pretty? More like a challenging woman,_ Darcy thought while keeping a straight face as Ms. Bingley eyed him in anticipation. "Pretty?" he finally spoke. "I don't think so."

Caroline smirked in satisfaction as she took a seat in one of the folding chairs, substitute for the furniture that was to arrive the next day.

"Oh my, enlighten us of her defects that don't make her a pretty girl," baited Caroline.

Darcy frowned; he wanted out of this conversation or at least have the subject be of something or someone that wasn't named 'Elizabeth Bennet'.

"Do 'enlighten' us Darcy, for I would like to hear what you see that I don't," Charles seconded but his tone was a bit more bitter-sarcastic than curious.

Clearing his throat Darcy simply said, "It's all a matter of opinion really. Charles, you might find her to be pretty but I'm not a person who finds scabs from previous pimples very attractive." Bingley rolled his eyes. "But, as I said before, it's all a matter of opinion. Even without those scabs on her forehead I still wouldn't find her attractive."

Shaking his head, Charles decided to close the conversation. "I'm sure you'll be happy to know Caroline that our furniture from the apartment will be arriving tomorrow morning. This is our last night sitting on folding chairs."

Turning back around to face the window, Darcy stared at his own reflection. The face he saw held the look of slight scolding. _What would you have me say? That she was pretty just to please Bingley? I think not, I only told the truth,_ Darcy thought and his reflection gave him a dubious look. _If you think otherwise than inform me of what the truth really is._ The reflection looked defeated. _That's what I thought!

* * *

_

Elizabeth sat in her college class, twirling her pencil while listening to the professor. It wasn't necessarily that she hated her classes that she appeared to be bored; it was rather that she was a bit distracted, but thankfully, she was recording the lecture so that she could take more notes later.

_Let's see here, it's early October now and in three weeks Uncle Eddy is getting married and I have to wear that bridesmaid outfit. I wonder who they'll have me walking down the aisle with, if they have the bridesmaids walk down the aisle, _wondered Lizzie, unconsciously sketching a figure in a wedding dress. _What if they have me standing on a stair? What if I trip on my skirt? What if I happen to be paired up with my old high school history teacher, Mr. Komisk?_

Lizzie shuddered at the mental image. She hated her history teacher but Mr. Komisk was her uncle's friend.

_Anyone but Mr. Komisk,_ she silently prayed. _Well, maybe they'll have me stand up with Rachael's son, Andy._

Rachael Miller was her Uncle Eddy Gardiner's fiancée, and Rachael just happened to be Jane and Elizabeth's favorite English teacher. While in high school Jane and Elizabeth decided to play matchmaker with their newly single Uncle Eddy and their favorite teacher. It turned out to be a great success!

Her Uncle Edward had been married two times in the past and divorced both times due to 'inability' to be there emotionally for this second wife and for not being so 'fertile' for his first wife. Now at the age of about forty, Edward Gardiner had custody of his two children who were ten and twelve years old from his second marriage.

Rachael Miller had been once married but it had only lasted about six months, long enough for her to get pregnant and have a son, Andy, who was currently thirteen years old.

_I wonder if Andy and Morgan will pull a Greg and Marsha Brady stunt,_ Lizzie thought for a moment, trying to contain her laughter.

"Lizzie," whispered a person next to her, "pay attention or Prof. might make an 'example' of you."

Recalling herself to her surroundings, Lizzie sat up straighter and proceeded to give the professor most of her attention.

"Thanks Justin," she whispered back, starting to take down notes when an instant message box popped up. It was from Lydia apparently, which surprised Lizzie since her cousin should be in school.

_'Hey L, what's this I hear about J having a b/f?'_ Lydia wrote and Elizabeth took a few moments to decipher what her cousin was asking. Lizzie never understood short hand writing and she never used it unless she was taking notes.

_'__Lydia__, what are you doing on the computer? You're supposed to be at school, don't make me tell your mother you've been skipping again,'_ replied Elizabeth.

_'I'm school, I'm in the comp. lab skipping study hall,' _Lydia stated. _'So, what's the guy's name? Who is the b/f? Is it that guy from the book store?'_

Shaking her head a bit, Lizzie responded with, _'Who said that she had a boyfriend?'_

_'Everyone.'_

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth clarified, _'__Lydia__, you're only seventeen years old, you don't know "everyone," so spill, who told you that Jane had a boyfriend?'_

_'Your ma told my ma and my ma told K and me. So, who is he? I want all the juicy details. Is he in the military? Navy? Army, perhaps?'_

Glancing up at the clock, Lizzie saw that she only had a couple of minutes before class would end. _'Lydia, I have to go, class ends soon. And no, Jane doesn't have an official boyfriend.'_

_'Then y'd he pick her up from work yesterday?' _There was a long pause before Lydia's screen name appeared again. _'That's what I thought. What's his name?'_

_'Lydia, get back to class or I will tell your mother that you've been skipping again,'_ threatened Lizzie, before logging out of instant messenger. "Why do I even bother having that thing on during class?"

When the bell rang, Lizzie hurriedly gathered up her stuff and made her way quickly to the door. She had to get to work quickly.

_It was to be expected,_ she sighed. _Of course mom would want everyone to know that her daughter has a boyfriend. Hopefully none of them know that it's Charles or they'll be all over him, especially mom. _

**Thank you to: Tali, anti-botox, and TriGemini. I'm glad you liked the Lizzie/Charlotte conversation in the last chapter, TriGemini.**


	8. A Cousin's Favor

**Unwanted Attractions**

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

"Bed," groaned Lizzie as she kicked her kickstand down. It hadn't been a busy day, so to speak, but it had been a long day of having a number of people coming into the comic store and inquiring about Jane's new "beau".

One of the downsides of living in a small town all of her life was that everyone knew everyone else's business. Lizzie knew this and so she would dodge all the questions to the best of her ability; which was basically her denying that Jane had a boyfriend yet not denying that she had gotten a ride home from Charles Bingley. He apparently was the talk of the town.

"The next person to say the name 'Charles Bingley' is going to get a serious piece of my mind," Elizabeth muttered as she pushed open the door with her shoulder. The door was beginning to have the horrible tendency to get stuck when someone tried to open it.

Entering the house, Lizzie inhaled the sweet smell of home deeply. Yes, how she loved home…

"Jane, you sly girl, you should have at least told me that it was Charles _Bingley_ who had dropped you off at home the other day," Elizabeth heard her mother gush from the multipurpose room.

…perhaps Elizabeth didn't love home as much as she had thought.

"Mom…" she groaned, setting down her bag and kicking off her mismatched shoes-she couldn't find the matching shoe. Grabbing a can of pop, Elizabeth made her way down the hallway toward the multipurpose room.

"Oh!" her mother continued, "you simply _must_ tell me just what it was that the good Mr. Bingley had said to you when he stopped by the daycare today."

Lizzie stopped in the hallway. _Charles had stopped to see Jane again? Why would he do that? The guy must be really attracted to Jane if he's willing to try so hard while entertaining his friend…_

"And who was that man your Aunt Phillips told me about? The man that was with Mr. Bingley," added Mrs. Bennet.

_Darcy? She can't be talking about Darcy, can she?_ Lizzie thought, creeping toward the door, making certain that no one would notice her eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Charles' friend is…" Jane began in her typical calm, yet slightly patronizing tone.

"So it's first name basis, my this is quite the development," Mrs. Bennet interrupted. "Isn't it dear?"

Glancing through the open door, Lizzie found her father sitting at the computer drawing out a 2-D sketch. Apparently he was working late too draw up some design plans for more furniture and home improvement projects.

"Well my dear, it would depend upon what era you are living in," Mr. Bennet replied, sounding disinterested in the subject of discussion. "If you believe we are living in the days prior to the mid to late 1900s, then it would be quite shocking that our Jane and this Mr. Charles Bingley would be on first name terms. However, darling, we live in the 21st century and first name terms are not only common but almost essential. So, it's really not all that shocking that Jane would refer to this man by 'Charles'."

Lizzie let out a soft laugh before she knocked on the door to announce her presence.

"Hey, I'm home," she stated, praying her mother had forgotten the subject of Charles and, more specifically, Darcy.

"Ah, Lizzie, come here girl, I want to know what you think of these plans for the kitchen," Mr. Bennet smiled, swirling around in his chair and motioning his daughter to come into the room.

Entering the room, Elizabeth went up to the computer and towered over her father as she stared at the screen, listening to her father explanations and design ideas, aided by the computerized image.

"What do you think Lizzie? Will this satisfy your mother for the time being?" Mr. Bennet muttered, while his wife 'mhph'ed in the background.

Leaning in a bit to get a better look at the screen-she didn't have her glasses at hand at the moment-Elizabeth imagined the design being substituted for their current kitchen. The measurements of the cabinets, counters, and the island were scaled well to their kitchen size, plus it would give them far more room to move about than what they currently had.

"It's a work of a genius dad," Lizzie nodded, patting her father's shoulder before turning to her mother and Jane. "What's going on?"

"Lizzie," her mother spoke up with a voice of accusation, "why didn't you tell me that the man Jane is seeing is none other than Charles Bingley! Why was I the last person to find out about it!"

Closing her eyes to keep from rolling them, Lizzie took a breath. "Mom, I seriously doubt you were the last the person to find the guy's name, and as far as Jane seeing him, you're talking to the wrong person. As far as I'm aware of, Jane and Charles aren't dating…" Jane blushed at this, raising Lizzie's curiosity.

Was she missing something? What was it that Lizzie did not know that made her sister blush so deeply and her mother smirk so victoriously? What did they know that she did not?

"Are you?" Liz asked her sister, finishing her earlier question with an expression of puzzlement.

"Well…" Jane began with an uneasy smile.

"Mr. Bingley had stopped by to see Jane again today, this time with a friend and his sister, Caroline," their mother interjected with a smug look.

Lizzie shrugged, what was the big deal in that? "So? What does that mean? Maybe he likes the brats or maybe he's demonstrating what his sister would have to go through if she got married and had kids," she suggested pathetically.

"Oh, I highly doubt that," smirked Mrs. Bennet. "Go ahead Jane, tell us what _Charles_ had to say to you today and who his friend was as well."

Jane was biting her lower lip to keep back a blush, causing Elizabeth to raise an eyebrow. "He just stopped by to say 'hi' and to ask if I would like to join him, Caroline, and Will for dinner Saturday," Jane answered, unable to hold back the blush.

Mrs. Bennet gushed and exclaimed her joy while Lizzie held a pensive expression in her eyes.

_He asked her to dine with him, his sister, and Darcy? That's not exactly a 'date', is it? I mean that just seems a bit beyond a date, like skip the three week dating period before introducing the girlfriend to friends and siblings,_ Lizzie thought, ignoring what her mother was saying to Jane.

* * *

"Is there something that I'm missing within the whole situation?" Lizzie inquired to Charlotte the next day at work. She had spilt the events of the night before to her friend and she was now seeking out answers.

Charlotte shrugged as she slid the new J-Pop and Anime CDs in their proper places. The store had gotten a new shipment of Japanese imports and it was up to Elizabeth and Charlotte to restock the shelves of candy, mangas, CDs, and other miscellaneous items.

"I don't know, perhaps he doesn't want to leave his sister alone to entertain his friend?" reasoned Charlotte. "Hey look, we finally got that 'Dream' CD you ordered seven months ago."

"Better late than never," sighed Lizzie, stocking the new supplies of Japanese candy. "I guess you're right, I mean Darcy's staying with Charles as a guest-we're all assuming-so, naturally, Charles would probably think it rude to leave his friend behind with only his sister. Luh, and Charles' sister's name is Caroline."

"Like Caroline in the City, or whatever the name of that show was," Charlotte jested.

Resting her head against the candy stand, Lizzie chuckled softly to herself. "That's probably it," she nodded. Living in the small town and having been raised to use her imagination to entertain herself, Lizzie didn't watch much television. Not that she didn't like television, quite the contrary; she enjoyed it a lot but didn't have much time to watch anything.

No, books were Lizzie only real sense of television entertainment.

The bell of the door rang and dashing in, giggling all the way, were Kitty and Lydia. Glancing up, Lizzie set aside the boxes of pocky that had been in her hands; she would just have to finish stacking when her cousins left.

"There you are Lizzie," cried Lydia, running over to Elizabeth with the infamous 'I have some news' expression. It was an expression that Lizzie had discovered over the years that could either mean interesting news or just plain horrible news.

"Have we got news for you," added Kitty, standing right beside her younger sister.

Lizzie wasn't quite certain how it happened but somehow, despite Kitty being two years older than Lydia, Kitty followed Lydia's actions and behavior. Somehow that seemed really backward to Lizzie, yet she just shrugged it off as Lydia unique ability to the leader in anything even if she wasn't a good leader.

"Apparently you do," nodded Lizzie. "So, what's the news?"

Her cousins exchanged grins before Lydia handed Lizzie an envelope that was addressed to the Phillips' family. Looking over the envelope, Lizzie found it to be opened and the handwriting to be rather large and masculine.

"What's this?" she questioned with a matching eyebrow.

"Just read it and find out for yourself," Kitty urged.

With a sigh, Lizzie indulged her younger cousins and removed the four paged letter. With wide eyes, Lizzie began to skim the letter; she wasn't going to seriously read through her relative's mail thoroughly.

"'Dear Family,

'As you may be aware I am William Fredrick Collins, son of Roberta Phillips . . . our families have had a history of quarrels . . . I hope to make amends'," turn page, "'for our families' antagonistic history . . . As you may not be aware of, I have recently entered into the role of Reverend . . . one of my pastors is'," turn page, "'the ever benevolent, sweet . . . Mrs. Catherine de Bourgh . . . It is upon Mrs. De Bourgh's request that I write to'," turn page, "'you . . . I am intent upon visiting your household for several weeks come October 11."

Stopping for a moment, Lizzie thought aloud, "Isn't that tomorrow?"

Kitty and Lydia both nodded.

"Oh," was all Lizzie said before continuing to read. "'. . . I will be arriving at . . . at 5 in the morning.'" Lizzie paused again. "Is he serious?"

"Yeah, and guess what. He's actually related to us," Lydia stated in a tone of disgust.

Folding the pages, Lizzie slipped them into the envelope. "What is he? Your cousin? Second cousin? Your cousin's cousin?" she asked, handing the letter back to Lydia.

"He's our cousin," Kitty answered, "pa's sister's kid. We have never once met him and get this; ma isn't exactly thrilled about him coming here."

"Well, from what it sounds, your family hasn't exactly been on the best terms with your cousin's family," explained Lizzie simply. It wasn't really anything that involved her directly so it truly wasn't any of her business to know her cousins' family feuds.

Lydia rolled her eyes and complained, "Lizzie that's not even the worst of it!"

Trying to sympathize with her cousins was a bit hard for Lizzie since she truly didn't mind having her cousins come to stay at her house despite any family feuds. Still, she was willing to let Kitty and Lydia vent to her, as always.

"Ma's inviting him to the Lucas' barn raising party _and_ to Uncle Eddy's wedding as a 'family guest,' and guess who has to make sure he has a good time at both events," Lydia challenged, with such a revolted expression that Lizzie almost believed that perhaps her cousins had met this Collins person before.

"Us," Kitty finished with a pout. "But we want to dance with the few military men that are supposed to be at both!"

Now, this was something that Elizabeth could at least sympathize with. "Well, I feel bad for you two. Good luck keeping this Collins guy happy at the party and wedding, especially at the reception."

The younger girls exchanged glances and Lizzie knew that something was up.

"Uh-oh, what is it?" she groaned.

"Well…" Kitty began.

"We were kind of hoping that perhaps you wouldn't mind making sure he's comfortable at the party. At least until we can find someone else we can dump the guy onto. I mean, by the time the wedding comes around I'm sure _someone_ will be more than willing to take him off your hands," Lydia finished.

Glancing between her cousins, Lizzie really didn't which was more sad; her cousins having to look after some cousin they never met or her having to look after this guy that wasn't even related to her!

One hand there was the fact that her cousins were younger than her, thus should be allowed to have their fun while it lasts. Also, Lizzie didn't really have anyone she knew that she really wanted to dance with at either event, except that she wished to speak with Charlotte for the most part.

Yet, it wasn't her responsibility to make certain this Collins guy was comfortable! He wasn't even her relative! Still, it would be one of those nice favors to do for her cousins…

"Oh okay, I'll make sure Collins is happy," Lizzie agreed.

Lydia and Kitty pounced upon Lizzie with squeals of happiness and many 'thank you's before they skipped their way out of the store.

"Wow," Charlotte remarked.

"Tell me about it," agreed Lizzie, returning to her senses.

"Lizzie," Charlotte spoke up.

"Mh?"

"What about Joe Wickham?" inquired Charlotte, approaching Lizzie as she picked up the boxes of pocky.

Lizzie shrugged, "What about him? He's not back from the military yet."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, everyone knew Joe wasn't back in town yet, if he was everyone would have been singing the news. Quite literally too.

"What if he comes back in time for my dad's barn raising party?" she pressured. "How are you going to 'catch up on old times' with Joe while entertaining your cousins' cousin?"

"Oops, I never thought of that. What am I going to do?"

**Thank you to: TriGemini (as always), non-damsel, anti-botox, and nebulia. You guys are so great. I had made the chapter a bit longer than normal but that could be because of the more dialogue. See ya next time, which will hopefully be on the 5th of March.**


	9. Stormy Trudge

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

It was going to be one long night that much was for certain, as Lizzie sat in the living room with her parents and Mary watching the news. Unfortunately for Lizzie and Jane, the weatherman had been right for once and it rained as Lizzie road her bike home from work and Jane rode hers to Charles' house for dinner, taking a spare set of clothes to change into.

Having gotten home early from work due to the weather and the few number of customers, Lizzie had began to study for her classes on Monday but soon found herself unable to concentrate. She was so worried about Jane riding alone in the rain to the Bingley house for dinner.

The confounded droplets of rain had not ceased falling all day; however, there was one thing about the rain that Lizzie was grateful for, she did not get to meet Collins, Kitty and Lydia's cousin. Kitty and Lydia were supposed to have brought Collins into the comic store that day but due to the rain, the girls had stayed home. So, Lizzie had been saved from having to be introduced to the man.

The phone rang and Lizzie leapt off of the couch to dash into the kitchen and retrieve the phone off its cradle.

"Bennet residence," she stated, trying not to sound too excited.

"Lizzie, it's Jane," Elizabeth sighed in relief, "I'm just calling to let everyone know that I made it to Charles' house safely and I am being well taken care of so that I don't catch a cold."

"Jane, you just couldn't call to cancel or ask for a ride, could you?" Lizzie smiled, turning around to lean against the refrigerator. She could see in her mind Jane blushing a bit for being seen through so easily. "Always trying not to be a burden upon anyone, even if you're not a burden."

"I just don't like to trouble or make others concerned for me," Jane replied.

"I was worried about you," Lizzie pointed out and a moment of silence followed. "Thank you for letting us know that you are safe though. How was dinner? Anything good on TV, beyond the news?"

Jane laughed a bit, "We haven't had dinner yet and there is no television in the house yet, only a radio and even is turned off since almost no one likes country music."

Lizzie pouted, "Aw…that's too bad. Well, I won't keep you from your dinner date anymore. Go, on and enjoy yourself, but you either stay over there tonight or have Charles give you a ride home later."

"I promise I will," vowed Jane. "Night Lizzie."

"Bye Jane." Hanging up the phone, Lizzie reentered the living room and sat down to start her work again. "Jane is at the house and she's safe."

Mrs. Bennet squealed in delight. "See my dear," she gushed, patting her husband's arm, "I told you having her ride out in the rain would not be so dangerous. Now, Jane will have to spend the whole night there from the sound of the storm coming our way."

Lizzie's head shot up when her mother admitted to sending Jane out in the rain on a bike.

"You did what! Please tell me you weren't the one to send Jane to Charles' house only on a bike!" she implored, watching as her father adverted his eyes in uneasiness and her mother beamed with pride.

"Of course I did, dinner is most certainly not a long enough time for those two to get to know each other. Sending her on bike has worked out for the best as Jane will have no reason but to stay there all night," Mrs. Bennet declared.

Outraged, Lizzie gripped at her English book and inhaled deep, sedated breathes to try to calm herself. She was angered with her mother, what so of irresponsible parent sends his or her child out in the rain on a bike!

Before Lizzie could contemplate the question the phone rang again.

Getting to her feet at a slower rate than before, Lizzie made it to the phone in two rings.

"Bennet residence, Lizzie speaking," she greeted in almost a growl.

"Wow, I didn't think you were going to be so disappointed with the news Lizzie, but as you have apparently read my mind, I just won't tell you," came Charlotte's teasing voice on the other side of the phone.

Elizabeth shook her head, sitting on the floor and playing with the telephone cord.

"Hey Char, what's up? What news are you talking about? The news about my mother having sent Jane over to Charles Bingley's house on bike in the rain, no less?" Lizzie returned in a bitter, sarcastic tone.

"Are you serious?" Charlotte exclaimed, surprised that anyone would do that, especially knowing country weather. "Damn…that sucks."

"She's safe though, she just called a few moments ago to let us know that she made it there safely, in some dry clothes, and was being taken care of," assured Lizzie, spinning the cord around her finger. "So what's your news?"

"Oh right, you are the first person to know, daddy wanted me to call you up and tell you that the barn raising party has been postponed until next Saturday due to the weather, especially since it's supposed to continue tomorrow," Charlotte informed Liz.

Nodding understandingly, Lizzie opened her mouth to say something but she heard the sound of a dial tone then nothing, and the lights began to flicker until they went out completely.

"Crap…dad, I thought you took care of the bills this month!" shouted Elizabeth, standing up as every image of horror movie villains flashed through her mind. It made her paranoid, there was a reason why she normally didn't watch horror movies, or at least hated to be in the dark.

"It's the storm that did that and I _did_ pay the bills this month, thank you," answered Mr. Bennet, flickering open his lighter and began to light the three candles in the room. "Unfortunately, the storm is supposed to last all night."

"How bad is the storm?" Lizzie inquired, feeling her way into the living room. All she could see was the faintly lit faces of her parents and Mary as they all sat on the couches sipping their glasses of soda.

Mrs. Bennet shrugged, "According to the news it's supposed to be the worst storm of the season but I highly doubt that…" Something shattered upstairs causing everyone jump in sudden fright.

"I'll go check that," Mr. Bennet volunteered, getting up and making his way to the stairs. Along the way he grabbed the broom that had been leaning against the wall as Mary had been sweeping the kitchen earlier.

He held the broom in a defensive position in case there was a burglar in the house. "It's just a broken window, caused by a branch of the tree outside!" Mr. Bennet called down the stairs, much to the relief of everyone.

"How long is this storm supposed to last?" Lizzie questioned, hoping that maybe her ill luck had shifted to something, no matter how small, positive.

Mrs. Bennet clapped her hands and held a broad grin on her features. "All night."

Cursing profusely, Elizabeth went into the kitchen to the rack of jackets while her mother scolded her for having such a flowery vocabulary. Feeling each jacket, Lizzie groaned in frustration when she couldn't find a rain coat. With an irritated sigh, Lizzie grabbed the first sweatshirt she felt and put it on.

"Lizzie, what are you doing?" Mrs. Bennet cried, standing in the doorway of the kitchen trying to find her daughter in the darkness. "Mary, what is your sister doing?"

Mary looked up from the book she was trying to read in the candlelight. "I have no idea, perhaps going to the comic store or going over to Netherfield Farm," suggested the girl, squinting her eyes to see the words.

"Don't read in the dark honey, it'll ruin your eyes even more. Lizzie, where are you going? Are you going to the comic store, because I'm certain Lucas has already taken precautions with prepping that place for the storm..."

"I'm going to see Jane," Lizzie interjected, putting on some gloves which she wished were waterproof.

Even in the dark Lizzie could see her mother's disappointment and simmering anger that was all directed at her. Mrs. Bennet hated to have her plans fouled and the person who normally fouled them up was Lizzie, so Lizzie was used to feeling her mother's wrath.

"Why in the world are you going to Netherfield? Surely there is no reason to go there. Besides, it's three miles from here and you'd be traveling in the rain, you'd get sick1" persisted Mrs. Bennet, hiding her anger but it crept into her tone a bit.

"Mom, I have to go tell them that the barn raising party is postponed until Saturday," Lizzie responded as she donned her father's Batman baseball cap, to keep the rain out of her eyes as much as possible.

"I'm certain that they already know," Mrs. Bennet shrugged, waving off the subject with her hand.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Mom, Char told me that I was the first to know, so trust me, they don't know," she countered, digging through the weather wear bin for a rain poncho.

"Then call them tomorrow morning," suggested mother.

"The phones are out and in case you forgot, the storm is supposed to last throughout the night, so the power may not come back on for a while as far as the telephone is concerned. And I bet you anything it's the same thing at Netherfield. Besides, they might end up going over to the party tomorrow anyways, not realizing that there is none," reasoned Lizzie, putting on her shoes.

If nationality had anything to do with personalities, then Lizzie was currently hating her mother's German blood that was causing her to be so stubborn.

"Well, you can go over there tomorrow morning to tell them or they may stop here to drop Jane off, she does have to change her clothes you know," Mrs. Bennet pointed out, much to Lizzie's annoyance.

"Mom, Caroline Bingley would probably lend her some clean clothes to wear and who are you trying to fool? You wouldn't let me go off to Netherfield tomorrow morning to tell them that the party got canceled while using the excuse that it's still raining," Lizzie retorted, opening the door. "Love you Mary, don't ruin your eyes too much tonight, and love you mom."

Leaving the house before her mother could say another word, Lizzie made her way to the garage to get her bike, but halted mid-way.

_If I take the bike then I may end up falling more often than biking. So, the confounded thing might be more of a burden than useful, but if I walk it'll take me about an hour or more…Well, may as well get walking, I'll just cut across the farm land, it'll be a bit quicker,_ Lizzie decided, turning away from the garage and making her way in the direction of Netherfield farm.

She hadn't told her mother the real reason why she was going to Netherfield, it was partially because she didn't wish to be in the house in the dark without someone there who understood her fear of the dark. Plus, she didn't wish to leave Jane alone with Caroline Bingley to deal with, despite not knowing the woman too well Lizzie already knew that Caroline would probably make certain that Charles and Jane spent as little time as possible together.

However, now that Lizzie had some time to think about her explanation as to her coming she found that her excuse was weak.

_Maybe I'll add in that I wanted to let them know how long the storm was going to last and to be prepared for the worst, possible flooding if the rain keeps falling like it is,_ Lizzie thought as she slipped when climbing over a gate. She felt the mud absorb into her sweatshirt, much to her disgust.

Getting up, Lizzie looked down at her shoes to find them covered in mud along with her socks.

"I should have worn my boots," Lizzie muttered.

**Thank you to: Michaela90, nebulia, keeleyann, Clavel, anti-botox, non-damsel, and maritza chan (Yeah, most people don't understand why Darcy's in a wheelchair. Well, there's two reasons: One, because I wrote him in one, and two…well that will be explained later.) Thanks guys, especially Michaela90, thanks for the heads up on Katie.**


	10. Untimely Entrance

**Unwanted Attractions**

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

**Alright, this has been a long time coming, I know. I have been lazy for quite some time, possibly because summer is almost here and so is my trip to ****New Zealand**** and ****Australia****. Yeah, I'll try to make the next update much sooner than this one was. You all can hold me to my word or, and you have my permission, to chop my head off with a guillotine and stick it on a spike in front of my computer (or in front of the TV watching horrible Sci-fi). May 22 will be the latest time of the next updation.**

It was wet, slippery, windy, and thunder was rolling while lighting would strike across the sky. Lizzie groaned, she wished she could have used the family truck, but that was in the shop due to engine problems—_Go figure!_

_Why did this storm have to come tonight? _Lizzie groaned, pulling out her foot that was suctioned into the mud. "This is worse than marching in a mud pit for a state competition."

Successfully pulling her foot out of the mud, Lizzie continued on her way. She had just recently gotten out of the Matlock's farm and entered the Netherfield farm, except it was still another good mile or mile and a half to the house.

"Just a little more ways," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore the fact that she felt droplets of water dripping down her spine and into her underwear. It was the most disagreeable feeling; much like the time her family went to Six Flags Great America in Illinois and they had gone on one of the water rides, when they got off Elizabeth was soaked through and she had unfortunately been wearing khakis that day with pink underwear.

It was among the more embarrassing memories that were held in her head.

Once more Lizzie slipped in the mud, her third time throughout the entire journey, but caught herself before she actually fell. Ahead of her a bolt of lighting struck at something that looked like one of the old willow trees near the road.

"Oh shi…!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she ran towards the road, sliding half the way, after the lighting had disappeared. "Now that really sucks! At least I'm on my way to Netherfield farm or Charles and the others would've found a big surprise when bringing Jane home tomorrow."

Right across the road laid one of the thickest branches of the tree along with several smaller ones.

"I've got to get out of this storm," Lizzie mumbled, looking up at the storm clouds.

* * *

Darcy should have known that nothing good would have come of that night, not when those ominous storm clouds started to roll in. At the time it seemed nothing more than a slight storm with a bit of rain until the lighting and thunder came in, even then it seemed nothing of great importance. At least not until the lights had gone out and everyone began to light candles to provide some form of light.

They were eating supper in the dinning room with Jane Bennet as their guest. Darcy had nothing against Jane, she was a sweet girl and Charles really seemed to enjoy her company. _Maybe a little too much…_

Eyeing Charles' behavior from across the table, Darcy watched as she listened to Charles and Caroline chiming in every other few words until there was several loud knocks at the door.

"Who could that be?" Caroline wondered aloud. "What sort of person would be making house calls at this time of night?"

"I'll go see who that is," Charles assured, rising from his place and leaving the room for the door.

Another streak of lighting lit the sky outside.

"My, the storms in this area are quite…intense," Caroline commented with a tight smile toward their guest.

Darcy closed his eyes so that no one would see him roll them; the weather was, in his opinion, the must mundane subject to ever speak of so it should be avoided at all costs. The conversation at the door, on the other hand, may have been more interesting if Darcy could have heard it.

"It's even worse during tornado season, right now we're in the flooding season," Jane explained, not even noticing Caroline's disinterest in the topic.

"Could say that again, as there is a flood warning being issued throughout the county, but you wouldn't know about that without a radio or television set," stated a voice from the doorway causing everyone to turn their attention.

Elizabeth stood in the doorway dripping wet and caked with mud from head to foot with Charles standing behind her. Her hair was matted to her face, even the part that was covered by a baseball cap that she took off, and her eyes dared anyone to make a comment about her attire.

Caroline raised a hand to her mouth, either to hide a smirk or sneer of revolt by the sight of Elizabeth. Jane, on the other hand, quickly rose from her seat and went to her sister's side.

"Lizzie, what are you doing here? Look at you…," Lizzie glanced down at her filthy clothes for a moment then shrugged. "Come on, you can wear my clothes, I'm fairly certain they're mostly dry, or at least drier than your clothes," Jane smiled, taking her sister's hand and leading her to the bathroom. "We'll be back shortly."

Once the two girls were gone, Caroline spoke her mind, unleashing all of her ill comments about Elizabeth.

"Argh, can you believe that girl? Who does she think is, waltzing in like she did?" Caroline remarked with a bitter laugh.

_'Waltzing' isn't quite the word I would have used to describe it,_ Darcy thought. The word 'waltzing' did not seem to describe Elizabeth's appearance adequately; no, something more like 'impeccably timed entrance' seemed to sum it up more efficiently.

Darcy looked to Charles to see if he would put an end to his sister's line of insinuated insults. Apparently not, even though it was quite obvious that Charles did not share his sister's point view on Elizabeth's untimely appearance.

"She came over to inform us of the flood warnings and that the storm was to last all night, as well as…I'm not quite certain what else, she was about to say something before we heard Jane say comment about the flooding season," Charles defended, resuming his seat.

Caroline rolled her eyes and stole a glance at Darcy as though she was about to share a private joke with him. "Oh, did she tell you why she was soaked through, for surely it's not that long of a walk from where she parked her car to the door."

Either not understanding what his sister was getting at or just feeling the need to somehow defend the Bennet girls, Charles replied, "If you will recall, Caroline, Jane had already told us that the family truck is being repaired so she had to bike here. If Jane couldn't use the truck than it is highly doubtful that Elizabeth would be able to either. Besides, Lizzie had walked all the way here by the looks of it, I didn't see a bike parked outside."

"Walk?" Caroline repeated and her brother nodded. She then let out a loud, shrilling laugh that made Darcy momentarily cringe. "Walk what?—three, four, or five miles just to get here?"

"Three miles," corrected Charles, reaching for his glass of sugarless lemonade. Darcy had no idea how his friend had ever gained a taste for tart lemonade, but there were many things about Charles that Darcy could not quite understand.

Caroline ignored the correction, "And traveling alone while in this storm. What would she have done had anything happened to her? Wouldn't it have been easier for her if she had just called here?"

Darcy hid his grin behind his cup of hot tea. Apparently Caroline had easily forgotten that the electricity had gone out about an hour or more ago, then returned about ten minutes ago.

Charles sighed, he was getting exasperated with his sister, something actually rather common for those who knew Charles well but was normally covered by his good-natured personality.

"Caroline, Caroline," Charles began, shaking his head, but was interrupted by the entrance of Jane. Immediately, Charles was on his feet, ready to be of any and all assistance to the girl.

"Pardon me, but my shirt is still soaking wet so if Lizzie could borrow one that would be…" Jane requested.

Charles was already on top of the request before Caroline could even utter a word of assurance.

"Of course, I think I have a spare shirt or two that she could wear," Charles assured, approaching Jane and exiting the room, heading to his room to fetch a clean shirt for Jane's sister.

Darcy wanted to protest but kept his mouth shut as he glance cautiously at Caroline, who returned the glance with a more satisfied, smug leer. He was alone in the dining room with Caroline Bingley. One of the lesser rings of Hell, but Hell none the less.

* * *

Rubbing her wet hair vigorously with a towel over the bath tub, she was almost completely naked except for a towel wrapped about her body and her undergarments, even though those were soaked as well. It was uncomfortable to be standing in a stranger's bathroom, almost completely stark naked and dripping wet.

Flipping her hair back, Lizzie shook it out and turned around to find herself with a dark, slightly curly mess. Her hair was always intolerable, wet or dry. It came with the Bennet heritage, but Jane seemed to be the exception of that rule.

The bathroom door opened and Jane came in with a dry shirt that was obviously a bit large and baggy; definitely not something that the Ms. Bingley would have lent as it was a bright green and white Green Lantern shirt.

"From the lady of the household?" teased Lizzie as Jane handed her the shirt.

"Charles lent it actually," Jane corrected, picking up a clean comb from the counter and going at her sister's hair.

"I know Jane, I was only joking," Lizzie informed her sister. "Ow! That blasted thing hurts Jane!" She was whining and she knew it too, but she could care less.

Jane adjusted Lizzie's head so that her sister was looking directly at the mirror. "Then quit moving your head about and it'll be less painful," Jane advised motherly.

Facing forward with a pout on her lips, Lizzie watched her sister work at the hair until it was as smooth as possible. Annoyed with her hair, Lizzie gathered up all of her hair and tied it back.

"I wasn't finished Lizzie," protested Jane.

"It was good enough Jane, I would much rather change more than have my hair brushed to perfection. I don't know about you but I hate standing here in my underwear with a towel on," Elizabeth pointed out, causing her sister to notice that Lizzie had yet to change.

"Oh…right…" Promptly turning around to give her sister a sense of privacy as Lizzie was one of those more self-conscious people, more so than she cared to admit.

"You know," Lizzie spoke up, "they think of me as an intruder."

Jane shook her head and resisted the urge to turn around. "No, they don't Lizzie, I'm certain that Charles loves you being here."

"Not Charles, I mean his sister and friend. I don't think Charles really minds me being here but I bet the other two do. I could see it when I came in," she stated, slipping on Jane's dry skirt. It was a white skirt but Lizzie was comforted in the fact that Charles' shirt seemed big enough that it would cover her butt for her.

"I'm sure they were just wondering like I was, why you are here," Jane offered.

"Do you want my honest answer or the partially honest answer?" Lizzie questioned, she believed it to be better to give people options.

She heard Jane laugh a bit. "How about we start with the absolute truth," Jane suggested.

"Okay," shrugged Lizzie, tucking in the Green Lantern shirt. "First off, I really need to buy a new razor; these nicks and cuts are hideous!"

"Lizzie!"

"Secondly, I really didn't want to be in the house with mom while the electricity was out and a window had broken upstairs. Plus, I was truly worried about you being stuck here without knowing what was going on."

Sensing her sister was done dressing, Jane turned around and smiled. She loved her sister for all the small quirks Lizzie had; they were partially what made Lizzie who she was.

"The fear of horror movies coming to life?" Jane supplied.

"Yeah," concurred Elizabeth, "which I guess it really wasn't that smart of an idea to go traveling in the rain, at night, and alone in such an open place. After all, Jason or Michael could have attacked me and I wouldn't have known it until it was too late!"

Jane, in all her motherly goodness, shook her head with a smile. "You are amazing, Lizzie," she remarked.

"Nah, just honest and natural," amended Lizzie.

Again, Jane giggled, "Either way, you had best stick with the partially honest answer."

Contemplating the suggestion, Lizzie shrugged; she may as well take her older sister's advice. "Shall we return to the dragons and the oh-so-dashing hero? I have something to tell them anyways."

"If you are willing."

"Certainly, I shall remain as silent as the grave after I deliver my news about the tree," promised Elizabeth, opening the door and leaving.

"What tree?" asked Jane, following her sister. "Lizzie, what tree?"

**Thank you to: nebulia, TriGemini, LimeJuiceTub, mara, anti-botox, Coollilyflower, and Frankie. Thanks a lot guys for your support and comments, I really appreciate them all.**

**Also, I am very well aware that I haven't done too many Darcy/Elizabeth scenes, and I'm sorry for that. This is my first Pride and Prejudice story and I'm testing out how I should write this out, so it's going to be a bit on the bumpy side (especially for me).**


	11. Round One

**Unwanted Attractions**

****

**Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.**

**Yeah, I know, I'm a week late. Guess what, someone did hunt me down and chopped off my head which is currently on a stake beside my computer (the fan found out that I actually liked horrible Sci-fi and I just wanted to less severely punished). So, my little sister is currently doing all the typing while I narrate it all for her.**

Whenever something goes wrong, people normally will begin to think that some higher being doesn't like him or her. Darcy didn't think; he knew that some higher being was against him and out to make his life a living hell as much as possible.

Here he was in the now furnished living room with the Bingleys and the Bennet sisters, writing a letter to his sister at the computer desk in the far corner with Caroline at his side to 'assist' him in his every need. Meanwhile, Charles was playing a game of Kings in the Corner with Jane while Elizabeth was reading a random book that was lying about.

"My, your sister will be really happy to get a letter from you. Has she grown at all?" Caroline inquired, leaning over Darcy's shoulder casually.

"Yes."

"Oh your pen, it's out of ink. I'll get you a new one," she offered as Darcy merely reached into his pocket and pulled out a new pen.

"I've got my own."

"My, you write fast," she continued to wax.

Darcy tried not to roll his eyes after putting a period at the end of his first paragraph. "Actually I write slowly."

From the direction of the couch Darcy heard someone snort a bit, most likely Jane's sister. At least he knew that his annoyance was a bit obvious even if Caroline Bingley was ignoring it or was blind to it.

Finishing another round of cards where Jane had claimed victory, for the fifth time in a row, Charles extended the invitation to Elizabeth.

"No thank you, I would much rather read a book," smiled Elizabeth.

"I'm sure that Ms. _Eliza_," Elizabeth winced slightly, "is a great reader of many things and doesn't like to do anything else," Caroline interjected.

"Actually, I'm not that great of a reader. I usually put reading books off to the side until I get a free day and then for comics I wait until I have the entire series, or most of it, before I start reading. If it's a graphic novel I usually just read it the instant I get it," explained Lizzie, flipping the page then looking at the cover to see the book title. "And I do have other hobbies, you just wouldn't know about them yet." With a shrug she returned to her reading.

"If you don't like that book I can get you another one," Charles offered, shuffling the cards for a game of Rummy. "There's not that many since most of my books are still at my apartment in San Francisco. Most of them I believe are books you published and sent me, Darcy."

"Have you even read any of them?" Darcy returned and immediately Caroline stated that she had while her brother had only read four of them.

Charles defended himself calmly, "I have been busy in Africa, Caroline, and I haven't really been in San Francisco much to even say I live there much less have time to read all those books."

"Africa?" Jane repeated in a form of a question. Elizabeth glanced up at her sister from the top of the book; Jane had a huge desire to one day travel to third world countries and become a volunteer for a hospital or something of the such.

"I spent the last six months in Africa helping at the orphanages and AIDS facilities while still running the family oil business from my temporary home," confirmed Charles, passing out the cards.

"Wow that's quite the accomplishment, for a man of your age," Jane smiled, picking up her cards and refusing to look up as a pink tint began to spread.

Charles grinned, making the first move in the card game, "You're being too generous Jane, but there have been many others who have done a lot more than I can do. Many of them women." Perking up, he added as an afterthought, "It's amazing how accomplished all women are."

"_All_!" cried Caroline, but it sounded more like a squeak. "My dear Charles, not all women are accomplished." She made the statement generally but her eyes indicated that she meant Elizabeth wasn't considered accomplished, according to Caroline Bingley's definition of 'accomplished'.

Continuing to read, Lizzie made a point of not responding or indicating that she was affected in any way by Caroline's insinuation. Flipping the page again, Elizabeth purposefully turned it with her middle finger as a subtle sign that she was well aware of what was meant by the statement.

"Oh come on Caroline, how can you not consider women to be generally accomplished? So many are college educated, can maintain jobs and families, raise children on their own, and aid against starvation, AIDS, and civil rights in other countries," listed Charles, not paying attention to the game and found that Jane had made a straight.

Having been listening more than writing the entire time, Darcy voiced his opinion on the subject in hopes of the topic being abandoned immediately.

"The list is well and all Charles, but it does not include all women or all the traits of an accomplished woman," he declared, causing Lizzie to lift an eyebrow slightly as she pretended to read. "With your list there are indeed many women that would be included but there are only really about half a dozen woman that can actually live up to the title of being accomplished."

"Totally, I can only name about six," Caroline agreed, making Lizzie stifle a laugh again and cover her mouth to hide her amusement.

"Then please enlighten us as to what other traits, as you said that Charles hadn't included all the traits of an accomplish woman, that the accomplished woman should have," insisted Lizzie, closing the book and setting it aside.

Caroline answered for Darcy, "She must speak several languages, be a master in several areas of study, be talented somehow in the arts, have exquisite taste, have charisma, and an eloquence in everything she says and does."

Darcy didn't agree with everything in the statement, but he decided not to say anything against it. Instead he just added, "Along with the improvement of her mind through reading books."

Slowly, Lizzie glanced down at the book next to her then shrugged. "Wow, I guess that leaves out Mother Theresa, which is kind of sad considering that many people around the world have considered her one of the most accomplished women of all time."

Caroline opened her mouth to somehow protest and correct her earlier statement, but Elizabeth continued. "Oh well, I suppose that no one can hold all these traits of the accomplished woman."

"That is untrue, I know many woman who fit the description of an accomplished woman," Caroline retorted indignantly. "And one of them happens to be Ms. Georgiana Darcy."

Elizabeth schooled her features as much as she possibly could; letting little of her amusement show on her countenance. _How can she say she can only name six accomplished women and yet say that she knows many accomplished women?_

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask," Charles spoke up, "what exactly happens at a barn raising party?"

Suddenly, Lizzie recalled her telephone conversation with Charlotte before the storm had cut them off.

"You still have another week to find out what's it's about," Lizzie assured, receiving some blank and bewildered expressions. "Charlotte called me before the power went out to tell me that the party was off due to the storm and the rain that's supposed to last tomorrow. Also, before I forget, on the way here I saw a streak of lightening hit a tree and a huge, wide branch is in the middle of the road. So, we'll have to move it tomorrow."

"Hopefully, the rest of the tree won't join the branch," Charles commented.

Lizzie snorted, picking up the book again to read, "Watch, now when we go to clear the road tomorrow the tree itself will be in the road."

Finished with his letter, Darcy picked up the book he had recently began that had been lying underneath his letter and spun his wheelchair around so that he could face the rest of the group. He began to read while keeping his ears open.

"Is there enough light for you?" Caroline questioned.

Darcy answered in the affirmative curtly, he just wanted to read his book, not entertain Caroline Bingley.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get Darcy's attention by simply being by him and interrupting his reading, Caroline glanced about the room for anything or anyone who she could use to get his attention.

"Eliza, aren't your legs stiff from all that sitting?" Caroline inquired in a falsely sweet tone.

"Well…n…" Elizabeth began to answer but Caroline had interjected and was by her side in an instant.

"Why don't you walk with me for a few minutes then," she offered, pulling Lizzie to her feet and dragging her, more than walking with her, around the room.

Straightening herself, Elizabeth walked alongside Charles' sister while having no idea why she was the targeted person instead of Jane. That was until Caroline extended the invitation to Darcy to join them.

"Actually I would rather remain where I am. After all, there are very few reasons I could of as to why you two would actually walk around the room together: your legs were actually stiff, you have personal issues to discuss, or you like to show off your figures," explained Darcy with a playful grin teasing at the corners of his mouth.

"Those are reasons for us to possibly be walking about but what are your reasons for not joining us?" Caroline challenged.

"Simply that you either have issues that I do not want to hear. If your legs are in fact stiff, you will simply sit down again shortly. And if you are walking about to show off your figures, I can admire you best from here," shrugged Darcy, watching for the slight upturn of Elizabeth's mouth and the hint of a blush.

Caroline laughed scandalously while Lizzie shook her head and tried to let it show that she was thinking of the underlining perversion of the last statement.

"You naughty boy," laughed Caroline, playfully slapping Darcy's arm, "now we need to punish you for being that implication. What shall his punishment be Eliza?"

A smirk spread slowly upon Elizabeth's face, making Darcy uneasy. What was she planning?

"He must be _teased_ or laughed_ at_," Darcy cringed, "but as you know him better than I, you probably have a better punishment than I could ever think of," Lizzie stated offhandedly as though it was nothing.

"Actually I don't know what kind of punishment to inflict on him," replied Caroline. "But I won't laugh unless we actually have something to laugh at or about."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and commented, "Of course, Darcy's not meant to be laughed at." She looked Darcy in the eyed. "An advantage on his part, one that I hope I won't have to suffer with for too long as I like to laugh."

Not liking to be seen as a joke in any way, Darcy decided to throw Lizzie's words right back at her. "The greatest of people are only laughed at by someone who sees everything as a joke."

Lizzie laughed a bit, "I think you've misread me, Darcy, I don't laugh at anyone and everyone, or what they do. I laugh at nonsense, randomness, inconsistencies, clichés, and those who like to try and pick fights when they are not up to the challenge." She said it all with a good-naturally tone that wasn't meant to implicate any insult, but Darcy interpreted the latter of the list as Lizzie saying she didn't think him up to her game of wit.

Her grin grew even wider as she cocked her head to the side and added, "Such as vanity and _pride_."

"Vanity might be a weakness but pride, when it's kept in check, will always be a strength," Darcy defended.

Thoroughly enjoying herself, Elizabeth turned to Caroline, who had been standing between her and Darcy the entire time, and grinned, "You're right Caroline; Darcy has no weakness to exploit as punishment. He is practically perfect in every way."

"I am certain," nodded Caroline, moving away to join Jane and Charles.

Lizzie was about to return to her book when Darcy stopped her. "Nobody is perfect, _Bennet_," he figured that if she was going to call him by his last name he may as well give her the same courtesy. "Even those who may seem to be perfect are not. Other than my defect in walking, my only other true weakness at present is my inability to forgive others after they have lost my trust."

Her eyes widened a bit, and Darcy knew that he had caught the girl off guard. However, she recovered fast.

"Such a weakness indeed, however as I can't laugh at it, you are safe from me," she assured him, again about to return to her book.

Darcy stopped her again. "Everyone has some natural defect."

"Yours is that you cast judgment before even knowing those who you cast judgment on," Elizabeth retorted, much to Darcy's surprise. He had thought she would have mentioned the fact that he was in a wheelchair, so obviously disabled.

"And yours is to willingly misinterpret those same people," he shot back, stunning her into silence.

Having sensed the growing tension for a long time, Charles decided that moment was the best time to announce that it was well after midnight and that everyone should go to bed.

"We have an extra bedroom but only one bed in there…" he informed the Bennet sisters.

"Don't worry about it," Lizzie reassured, "I was going to volunteer to sleep on the couch anyways."

Charles shook his head. "No, I'll give you my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

Jane smiled, "Trust me Charles, Lizzie would much rather take the couch. She normally sleeps best on couches or in recliners; that's all she sleeps on at home except for the few nights when she sleeps on the futon."

Even with the reassurance Charles was reluctant to let Lizzie sleep on the couch. "Very well, I'll get you some blankets then. And if you need anything, there's a bathroom down the hall and Darcy's room the last door on the right."

For a moment, Elizabeth had a perplexed expression on her face. _Why would he need to sleep down here?_ she wondered, until she turned around and was reminded that Darcy was in a wheelchair. _Oh, that's right, he's in a wheelchair. Wow, completely forgot about that._

**Thank you to: TriGemini, nebulia, anti-botox, Severus-Fan, a2umad, arliddian, maritza chan, maritza chan, and Aerinha's Foundry.**

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